yeppers

morning mr. magpie

i am listening to king of limbs right now.

when i listen to radiohead, i feel like anything is possible. it's a good feeling.

king of limbs

i went to the show last night. totally awesome. the love language were great. i didn't think their sound would translate well to that small of an arena, but they sounded great. the opener was good too. kind a cross between my bloody valentine and the dandy warhols. the second was so terrible i wanted to punch myself in the face repeatedly. so all in all, it was a good night. a late night. totally dragging today.

the hi-dive was pretty sweet. a little dive bar as indicated in the title. i would see a show there again. for sure.

radiohead's new album comes out this saturday. by download only.

the grammys

the grammys are on tonight. i can't help but think of one of my favorite simpson's quotes:

"tonight on wings.....ah, who cares."

libraries

the love language is playing at the hi-dive next wednesday night. i am freakin' out.

i'm actually trying to get home in time to change and go to the hi-dive tonight to check out tennis and the shady babes.

get a haircut

i'm having an internal struggle. i have grown my hair out for three months. and i like the way it looks. but, i have a growing bald spot in the back. and it's not going away. so the longer it gets, the more the bald spot stands out. i never thought i'd be losing my hair at 31. should i shave it? and leave it shaved forever? it's kind of embarrassing to have a full head of hair and a white spot shining through. i'm not sure what i'm going to do. maybe just paint it red. red-ish.

i just listened to the new strokes song. and i'm sorry. but it sucked. that first album of theirs was probably the best album of the 00's. maybe better than yankee hotel foxtrot, which would be number 2. you listen to that first album of theirs now and it's still crisp and full of attitude. pure rock chops right out of the gate. and then it just got worse and worse. kind of like what happened to julian lennon. valotte anyone?

sad and beautiful world

so i'm back from houston. when i left denver, it was snowing and below 20 degrees. my normal commute to work took an hour and a half. i drove 10 miles an hour the whole way there. i had to shovel the driveway twice to get the car out to get to the airport. but, we made it.

i get to houston and i'm sweating very heavily because i'm wearing two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, three shirts, a jacket and a wool hat. but the sweating didn't last long. it soon got very cold. so cold in fact, there were rolling blackouts across the state. rolling blackouts? hasn't it been this cold before? isn't it hot during the summer? don't we all work our A/C's like crazy in the heat? i didn't understand the rolling blackouts and i wonder what the real story is behind that. remember enron anyone? manipulating energy prices? who knows.

but the cold and blackouts did in fact inhibit my grandmother's funeral. the pipes burst at the funeral home the night before the funeral. we had no toilets, no water. only coffee. but the more coffee i drank, the more i wished the pipes were working. so i stopped. the lights went out ten minutes before the funeral started. so we started the funeral in the dark. it was actually somewhat serene. it was quiet. it was dark. there was only candlelight. it was very peaceful. the lights did come back on though. we didn't go long without them, probably 15 minutes.

the gravesite was brutal. it was freezing cold. and that was it. my grandmother was buried and we left. actually we left before that. my flight back home to denver was one of only three flights from houston that got out to denver that day. flights were cancelled before and after mine. my flight was coming from amsterdam, so they didn't have any problems getting to houston before the freeze. and i have to say, it was pretty funny to watch the city basically stop because it was going to freeze and possibly, not probably, but possibly snow. as i am typing, there is half a foot of snow outside right now. after i took my FAR test today, i drove home in the pouring snow. it was coming down so hard, i couldn't see my lane. but i made it home. and the city kept going. it's what you're used to. and i'm getting used to the snow.

so i'm back in denver after my three day trip to houston. i don't miss houston. i miss the people. but i don't miss the city. i'll probably never move back to texas. i love it. and i'll always cherish it. i'm a texan. i was born a texan. but i'll never move back.

it was a tough january. i won't lie. we lost bear. we lost my grandmother. the strong, tough older women that i've known all my life are finally leaving to join their men. i hope they're all together. i hope they're all in peace.

as far as tomorrow, go packers. my preseason pick. make me a genius.

shu ba du ba loo ba

if anyone would like the opportunity to contribute to the making of what is going to be an awesome record, go here and check it out.

you don't get the opportunity to contribute to the making of an artistic moment very often and i highly suggest getting behind this guy. aside from the fact that he's a stand-up dude, the man's got talent. this is a song from leatherbag's previous album.

someone great, pt. 2

we lost another great woman. my grandmother passed away last night. she was 87 years old. she was a remarkable woman. we will truly miss her.

i had project back in the old radio/tv days that involved finding someone who was around when television was first introduced and interview them, get their feelings on the subject. how did it change your life? how did it change the family structure? that sort of thing. so i interviewed my grandmother. she was so proud to sit and talk to me for hours on the subject. and after we were done, she'd bring it back up again when i'd see her. "remember how we were talking about television...." and she'd tell me something new about the subject. she was very happy to have connected with me on that. and so was i.

i got mine

for the second year in a row, i have amazingly predicted, prior to the start of the season, the nfc super bowl representative. thank you. thank you. i know you are proud of me. but, you cannot be as proud of me as i am of myself. yes, i am amazing. amazing and mentally gifted. those statements are true. and accurate.

although i whiffed on my afc super bowl pick, i did come within two games of being right both years, san diego last year and baltimore this year. well, i hope you enjoyed my greatness as much i did. stay tuned for my predictions in golf, swimming, archery and aerial ballet.

that is all.

black sheep boy

we lost another voice of reason. keith olbermann has left msnbc.

is there room for reason anymore on the airwaves? i'm starting to wonder. at least bill maher is still out there stirring it up.

maher on reilly.

bodysnatchers

tonight is my last night in slc. we went out and got a steak. a big slab of meat. bleeding with butter and salt and pepper and other spices from far away shores. there was also broccoli, which i will write less about. wine was flowing and so were stories of seinfeld jokes and "hey is that the guy from perfect strangers" jokes. but eventually we spilled into the streets of slc. we stumbled upon a garden party with free vino and beer. we listened to covers of bob dylan and the band with mandolins and rhythm guitars. there were ice sculptures, but more importantly there was free vino and beer.

i have found a new love. grooveshark. that's right. i am a fickle free music online lover. if only i could figure it out. i think we would be perfick!

but i did kind of figure it out. i'm listening to scott walker "big louise" right now.

and eventually, i am taking the robes. and soaps. and maybe the lamp. you'll know if i did based on your x-mas gifts for next year.

"happy x-mas. here is a guest services directory. would you like a linguine pomodoro or maybe a greek piadine from 11 months ago? or maybe a complementary wall street journal from january? how about this bar of wrapped soap? it has mulberries in it. i'm sure of it." if only you were that lucky.

crazy for you, but not that crazy

i've already fallen out of love with pandora. i entered like over 20 bands and they don't a single song by those bands, but a bunch of unknown crap. what is that? enough. play what i entered mr./mrs. pandora.

rocky mountain high

i've been in salt lake city for only a week and a half. i am more than ready to go back to denver. we've only been there a few months, but it is starting to feel like home. i still have to catch myself when people ask me where i'm from, because they don't mean where i was born, they mean where am i from right now. i also still write houston a lot when i'm filling things out. but i'm getting better (that was weird, i almost wrote 'houston' instead of 'better'). that's probably due to a lack of sleep. we have cable in the hotel and i've been staying up way too late watching garbage.
i can't wait to hang out with demitria and sofie. listen to music in my office. or run to einstein brothers and drink coffee on colorado.

i was just informed about a thing called pandora online radio. i've already discovered new bands including the idyllists, velour, the wooden birds, discovery and noah and the whale. gotta have fun at work. if you can.

guster fever

saw a band called guster in salt lake city last night. sketch place, totally awesome. never heard the band before, but everyone in that joint had guster fever.

they came back out for the encore and played "under the bridge" with the drummer awkwardly doing the vocals. it was pretty cool. the band seemed to be having a blast, which made it a kind of a fun atmosphere. but man, guster fever, sweeping salt lake city. look out america.

for benjamin, our bear

benjamin, our bear, pt. 2

benjamin, you were one of a kind. i love you buddy. i miss you.

benjamin, our bear

we had to part with our little bear today. his body was failing him and we couldn't let him suffer anymore. i miss him so much already. i have so much to say about him, but i just can't make my brain work right now.

2010 football wrap-up

the houston texans finish the season 6-10. i had them going 7-9. one more game kubiak, you couldn't win one more game?!?

both of my super bowls teams are the in playoffs: the baltimore ravens and the green bay packers. the packers squeak in with a win over the bears. i didn't think they were going to make it in, but it looks like they wanted it more than me. and i didn't really want it that bad.

all in all, it was a pretty craptacular season for my former city and current city. but, denver definitely has a tebowner. this town loves that kid. we'll see what happens.

prediction

my celebrity death for 2011:

burt reynolds.

i know. it's messed up.

There's Something About Wilco

not sure if i posted this yet or not. it's a jeff tweedy interview with cbs this morning. very nicely done. look for the drummer glenn kotche. i actually met him outside of a sushi bar in houston before a show. i totally fanned it up!

snowed in

it's finally here.

paper thin hotel

so what happens when leonard cohen and phil spector get together? they make the most awesome, desperate, debased and colorful album of leonard cohen's career. these are songs of a man who has nothing to lose. a man who is watching the leaves fall and realizes desperation can be a tool for getting women. this concept album revolves around a guy who has come to grips with his age and place in life. i love it. this album is such a messy affair, it's impossible not to love it.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

this is the lead track from "the suburbs" by the arcade fire, my vote for best album of the year. check out the houses, the streets, the fences. look familiar.

if your video has an ad at the bottom, double click the video to maximize it and then X out the ad.

yer birthday

the 23rd was demitria's birthday. i had to go to work, but only to pick up a shipment of study material. so once i got that, i headed home and we went ice-skating. there is an indoor ice skating dome in lowry, which isn't very far at all from us. we skated for about 30 minutes, realizing just how labor intensive skating is. but, our constant fight to stay upright, probably made it harder for us. later in the evening we went to le central, which is a pretty sweet french restaurant towards downtown. i think she enjoyed it and had a good time. i just don't know how someone who never skates could look so cute in her skating attire. we had fun.

merry christmas

i think this might be my favorite christmas song:

the old's man back again

hope everyone is having a blast. i'm about to go hand out sandwiches.

lights and lunar eclipses

last weekend, we went to the lights of the denver arboretum. basically, they put christmas lights on the dead plants as a way to get people into their facility during winter. well, it worked because we went. and the lights were pretty cool. they sold three different pairs of 3-d glasses and when you put them on, all the lights turned into either christmas trees, snowflakes or stars. i tried taking a picture through the 3-d glasses, but none of them turned out. that's what i'm wearing in that bottom picture.

then last night, we stayed up past midnight to see the lunar eclipse. i couldn't get a great shot with my camera, but those two are decent. the moon was reddish-orange when it finally was 100% covered. and you wouldn't believe how many stars you can see in denver. it's not like houston. i felt like i was in the woods. i guess compared to houston, i am in the woods.

the gambler

does anyone remember me picking the texans to go 7-9?

well i did.

and that's after having new orleans win the super bowl last year. quite a hot hand. of course, let's forget about my 2011 super bowl matchup of baltimore and green bay.

yeah, let's just forget that.

written in reverse

album of the year: the suburbs by the arcade fire. i've gone back and forth with this in my head over and over again. is it beach house or the arcade fire? ultimately, i had to give it to the arcade fire. the suburbs should be a mess. writing a whole album about a subject so picked over as the american suburbs, should be a cliche-ridden, word association affair. but it's not. the music is energized. the lyrics are wounded, passionate, forgiving and full of sorrow. this common area of american life is not demonized, it is mourned. the loss of the suburbs. what it was and what it turned into. in as many ways as you want to strike it down yourself, you want to save it too. because you see it decay and you wonder how much of it is inside yourself. incredible album from a band that is easily taking its place as one of the most exciting bands of the times.

artist of the year: scott walker. no, he didn't release an album this year. but this is the year i found scott walker. i bought his first three solo albums and i have listened to most of nite flights and the drift. the vocal ability of this man is unbelievable. his songs range from MOR to full orchestral workouts. 30th century man is an amazing song and, also, is the name of the documentary about scott walker. you can watch it on netflix on your computer. i highly recommend it.

concert of the year: sonny and the sunsets/best coast. this award is given for the sheer fact that i met kelley stoltz, got my picture taken with him and he gave his new album for free. plus, it was my first concert in denver. way to start, huh? if we were awarding this award just on musicality alone, it would have been vampire weekend/beach house. but we're not! so kelley stoltz wins! and thanks to demitria for asking the bass player of sonny and the sunsets if that was kelley stoltz. cause i wasn't sure.

letdown of the year: midlake, the courage of others. i was so excited about this album. have you seen the cover? it's awesome! but i have tried to love it. i have tried to live with it. but, i can't. it's terrible. i can't stand it. there's only two songs i can listen to and get all the way through. and even those are just okay. i've seen lists where this is listed as one of the best albums of the year and i just don't understand it. it's so slow. it has no melody. the vocals sound like the choir of 90 year-olds that used to sing at my church. it's horrible. total let down!

rookie of the year: twin shadow, forget. it could be that i love this album so much because it sounds like a soundtrack to winter, which i'm experiencing for the first time. but i don't think that's it. the 80's influences are there. but they're not overbearing. the lyrics are subtle, but meaningful. the album sounds beautifully sculpted, like from a piece of ice. awesome debut.

what a year for music. 2010 was incredible. i don't think i've ever seen a year like this. i can't wait to see how 2011 goes!

pirate radio

i just watched the greatest movie of all time.

PIRATE RADIO!!

this isn't some crazy single-camera, over-edited experimental movie that only i like. everyone who reads this blog will love this movie! it has philip seymour hoffman in it. i mean, that's all you need to say.

PIRATE RADIO people. check it out.

this is the new

2010 was probably the best year in music i've ever lived through. i'm sure 1966 and 1967 were pretty awesome, but, i was not there. so i cannot be sure. but, 2010 was awesome. i'm currently compiling my list of best albums of the year and these are the contenders:

spoon- transference
the arcade fire- the suburbs
the national- high violet
lcd soundsystem- this is happening
dr. dog- shame, shame
phospherescent- here's to taking it easy
beach house- teen dream
vampire weekend- contra
best coast- crazy for you
sonny and the sunsets- tomorrow is alright
blitzen trapper- destroyers of the world
the walkmen- lisbon
band of horses- infinate arms
midlake- the courage of others
kelley stoltz- in dreams
the love language- libraries
the morning benders- big echo
magnetic fields- realism
surfer blood- astro coast
the soft pack- s/t
yeasayer- odd blood
mumford and sons- sigh no more
the besnard lakes- the besnard lakes are the roaring night

those are the albums i'm currently considering. some of them i'm not considering, i just wanted to add them to the list. but look at that list. amazing. and i'm probably forgetting several albums. i'm going to have to go through my albums and see what else i can find.

for the top two, i'm probably thinking the arcade fire or beach house. that beach house album is absolutely gorgeous. the rest will flucuate, but those are the top two. for reals.

little st. nick

you notice bear sitting next to the tree down there? we tried to hang him as an ornament and he wasn't having any of it. the wrights have decorated for the holiday season and i have to say, it was a major success. the tree is awesome. the fireplace is awesome. we were listening to the beach boys christmas. we heard little st. nick about forty times that night. but we enjoyed it. i hope you guys are getting into the holiday spirit. also, if you're wondering what's up with the one stocking on the fireplace, it's demitria's. she's the only one getting a stocking stuffer this year apparently. greedy. we'll see about that.

happy thanksgiving

so as promised, here are some of the best shots from iceland. happy thanksgiving.

oh baby, houston

we have recently stepped into the 20th century. we're not quite in 21th century yet, give us some more time. but we have a functioning computer and a printer/scanner. and also, like i posted earlier, i found a place to print my black/white photos here in denver. these three are from houston taken around 2008/2009. i drove around the 59 area, on the other side of the ballpark and took the photo of the train tracks. that area was pretty fascinating because right next to new, state-of-the-art condos, was piled up garbage and old railroad tracks. the chairs were sitting out front of a goodwill type place close to the star of hope, which is also downtown. and you might recognize those guys at the top. the huge beatles statues were behind a target off of i-10, behind a locked gate. pete and i got as close as we could and i snapped that photo. so now that i have a scanner, i'm going to scan some of our iceland photos and upload those soon as well.

take a load off your feet

we haven't been hiking in a few weeks. but the weather is still holding up. these are from our previous hike to roxborough.

in other news, are the mets trying to prove that they are one of the dumbest baseball franchises? terry collins? you hire terry collins to manage your team? really? that guy has sucked everywhere he's been. he's a quitter. you had all this time, all these resources and you hire terry collins. wow.

the holy man

dennis wilson- the holy man

untitled #1

greatest video of all time.

bear and candles

the candles were lit. the cat was in his bed. and as we layed together, cuddling, whispering words and purrs of love to each other, i thought, is this wrong? is my love misplaced?

no. no. it is not wrong. our love is not wrong. our love is eternal. and although current legislation makes our love wrong in the eyes of society, i say we shun society. we make our love known and to hell with the world! we will find a way for man and cat to be one.

bad cover version

i was listening to pulp the other day, which i do from time to time and i came across the song "bad cover version."

there were some lyrics in particular that struck me:

"aah, sing your song about all the sad imitations that got it so wrong,
it's like a later 'tom and jerry' when the two of them could talk,
like the stones since the eighties, like the last days of southfork,
like 'planet of the apes' on tv, the second side of 'til the band comes in',
like an own-brand box of cornflakes: he's going to let you down my friend."

i actually heard those lyrics and stopped mid-motion and laughed. because that will be me one day. and it won't be long.

the sun ain't gonna shine anymore

i've recently become obsessed with the music of scott walker. i first heard him doing this song as part of the walker brothers. but it's his solo albums that are freaking me out. plus, i stumbled upon a documentary about him called 30th century man. his solo albums are orchestrated heavily, but they are dark, a little detached and unnervingly beautiful. i haven't seen the documentary yet, but i'm looking forward to it. here is one of my favorite songs on his first solo record called montague terrace (in blue). here is another amazing song from his fourth solo album called on your own again.

there's also the harry nilsson documentary i haven't seen yet.

and the magnetic fields documentary i haven't seen yet. falling behind.

computer blue

i've been having major computer problems for the past two weeks. today, they are solved. evidently, dell will sell you a computer with basically no RAM. so i bought some RAM and my computer is now lightening quick. checkmate kevin.

there is a record store in town called twist and shout. they are supplying me with endless amounts of quality music. scott walker, richard and linda thompson, echo and the bunnymen, galaxie 500, ladybug transistor, the love language, the fresh and onlys, john cale and todd rundgren. ample good stuff. totally love the store. anybody who comes to visit, we will be going there.

i also found a shop here that will develop all my black and white photos. i just got some back of pictures i took in iceland. incredible. i forgot all these shots i had taken. awesome stuff.

i want to see the bright lights tonight

we haven't taken many pictures lately. lots of stuff happening. hopefully we'll get out this weekend and hangout and shoot some cool stuff. in the mean time, check out the cats, well sofie at least.

the day the squirrel went berserk

this little guy has been the subject of much discussion lately. we had two pumpkins sitting out on our patio for halloween. they started to develop little patches where the outside layer was barely picked off. i attributed it to the pumpkins falling off the rail of the patio, which they had done several times. demitria thought it was a bird. well, it turns out we were both wrong. it was this guy. the corner of the patio is a mess with pumpkin seeds and pumpkin extract because this dude went to town on our pumpkins. both of them have massive holes in them. i was standing inside watching him from our front door peep window. we thought about turning them around to fool him, but ultimately, we threw them away. i guess all the apples in the backyard weren't enough.

snowstorm

we experienced our first snow of the year on tuesday. me, demitria and the two cats sat in front of the window and watched it snow. it wasn't a real thick snow, but it did stick for a while. and it snowed last night as well. but we had a snow party that night and listened to the beach boys to stay warm.

i remember you were wild

for my birthday this year, we decided to do the opposite of what we usually do, and that was to get up early and go hiking. what is the opposite of that, i wonder? get up late and go spelunking? i have no idea. but it felt opposite. check out this sign for spelunking.

anyway, enough about spelunking. saturday we woke up and headed to roxborough state park. the hikes were pretty mild, as far as difficulty, but we saw several squirrels and some deer and a pretty little bluebird who kept ahead of us one trail. that was cool. they also had a nice bathroom and a coke machine. the top two pictures are from roxborough.

sunday, we got up and went to evergreen, which a little town west of denver. we hiked around mount falcon for what seemed like half the day. from the list on the link for mount falcon, you can see the parmalee trail details. that's the trail we took. we were only two of four hikers we saw on the trail all day. the rest were bikers. at one point, we were beginning to think about looking for berries and maybe creating a fire, because we weren't sure where we were on the trail and it was close to getting dark. but we made it out alive. the bottom three pictures are from there and the pictures don't do justice to the amazing view we saw on top of that mount. it was incredible. mass amounts of green trees rolling every direction.

so i had a great birthday in denver. also got some pajama pants and a tie rack! and a new jacket! score!

yer birthday

so today is my birthday. i don't any magical/words of wisdom. some things taste better. some things taste worse. sometimes i want to sleep a lot. sometimes i want to get up early and drink coffee. sometimes i want to drink and hang out all night. most of the time, i don't. i still love music. i still love baseball. i sure do like driving with the windows down.

check for pics soon of our hike to mount falcon.