off the record

the big night was tonight, my morning jacket in KC at the uptown theater. the bottom shot is the theater before the opening band. the opening band was delta spirit. i'd heard of them from hearya. big, big favorite on hearya. they were good. i would check out their album. my morning jacket was awesome though. started out with the victory dance. moved through some of my favorites from the new album, it still moves, z and evil urges. they were totally upbeat and the place was so hot, everybody was dripping with sweat. i don't know how those guys got through the show without passing out. my ears are still buzzing right now. as you can tell from the pics, i was pretty close over on the right side of the stage. i was able to worm my way after delta spirit. they'll be in denver tomorrow night at red rocks. i have friends going so i'll get a review from there too. i'm going home on friday to denver before i have to come back for week. and then i'm done. between the pizza, my morning jacket, pan-fried chicken and nothing else, kansas city is a pretty bland town. i miss my mountains and afternoon showers. rain, i mean. i don't think it rains here. ever. i hope my hearing comes back.

oh right. this morning. i forgot. so at five in the morning today, i hear an alarm so loud i'm sure the hotel is under attack. i literally sat up in bed with my eyes wide open from a dead sleep. the alarm continued and then a voice came on, "this is not a test. move to the nearest stairway and evacuate the building." i grabbed my wallet and put on a shirt and headed out to find the stairway. i went down six flights of stairs and headed out the back. no one was there. everybody was in the lobby. i headed to the lobby and tried to fall back asleep. i stayed down there for about twenty minutes trying to sleep before they told us it was a false alarm and to go back to our rooms. seeing everyone in their pjs was interesting. one dude did not put on a shirt and one old lady had on a robe. that was all. awkward.

sounds of silence

i'm not sure if i'd rather be outside moving piles of rocks than staring at a computer for ten hours a day thinking as hard as i can. it's freaking exhausting. i'm mentally drained every day. actually it's kind of hot now, moving rocks might be tough. what about driving a taxi?

tomorrow is my morning jacket. totally pumped for that. going home friday finally after three weeks. i'm getting a little lonely here. i was told that there would be others from out of town and people went out quite a bit. that was the opposite of true.

i actually took a taxi from the hotel to work this morning because yesterday i walked, like i do everyday here, and i was soaking wet from sweat. is that how you spell sweat? looks weird.

eat the rich

i finally finished the book with the cover/title shown above. good read. the hubris of wall street and the incredible idiocy of the people running these firms is shown in the story. it's not highlighted enough. the read is more of a story of an unforeseen predicament, with men behind the scenes trying desperately to save a system that had inexplicably turned to a swirling tornado of destruction. that's not really how it happened. and you can try to paint hank paulson a savior as much as you want. but he led goldman sachs before joining the treasury and argued for much of the structure that took down the system. anyway, i would totally recommend it. and i hear there was a movie too. missed it. i was probably watching scrubs or the office for the 3,254 time.

don't stop til you get enough

i finally got to get out in kansas city. other than last friday, my pizza night, and not even really then because i only walked like two blocks from the hotel, i haven't really gotten out in kansas city. my dad had told me about this place that he had eaten at like thirty years ago and i looked it up and it's still there. not only is it still there, it's actually won a lot of awards and is super highly regarded as a great place to get pan-friend chicken. so that's what i got. and it was a lot. mashed potatoes and these amazing cinnamon rolls they give you after you eat. it was awesome. that's the extent of my trip so far. my morning jacket is wednesday. i'll have pictures from that too. see that big piece in the back, i'm going to eat that one tomorrow for lunch. and i have two cinnamon rolls too.

"fool me once, strike one, fool me twice.........strike three." from the office. that was just on tv. great.

hunter pence is a philly. we've traded lidge, oswalt and now pence to the phillies. we were snookered on the lidge deal and the oswalt deal. we'll see how this one pans out. bourn, wandy and lee need to go now. and then we need to bring back tony eusabio. that guy could hit.

be my baby

we're having a potluck thing on monday and the kicker is, as part of a team building experience, we have to give an interesting fact about ourselves that the others didn't know.

i was talking to demitria and i said my interesting fact is that i used to be a baby. i don't think i've ever said anything as funny as that before in my life. i am still laughing about that.

another thing that's funny. tanner and i used to have this routine where we would quote lyrics from mungo jerry's "in the summertime" and how inappropriate some of the lyrics are. "if her daddy's rich, take her out for meal, if her daddy's poor, just do what you feel." and we were like what is that? "do what you feel" because she's poor. that's suggestive.

anyway, it was great fun. so i'm watching jimmy fallon last night, a very underrated late-night talk show, and he was doing the same thing with "splish splash". he's like, "what's going on here? this guy is taking a bath and has no idea there is a party going on?" it was awesome.

dancing on the ceiling

is anybody else getting the feeling that obama really wants to cut entitlement programs and is using this situation as a means to get the cuts while blaming the republicans for it who have always wanted it? i'm not on the side of the republicans, don't misread that. i just wonder who really wants what.

or are we seriously trying to default on purpose under the guise of some sort of back and forth ideological argument that doesn't really exist? i mean, the two parties are the same. both are bankrolled by the same global corporations. is there an advantage to defaulting? i mean, is this a response to all the money printing of QE1 and QE2 that didn't work? defaulting will make interest rates go up by the natural downgrade of our debt courtesy of the rating agencies. is this a means of forcing rates up by blaming the ratings agencies? i don't know. but something seems off here. ignore the rhetoric. ignore the back and forth. people, they're on the same team. what do they have to gain by a default? i guess we'll wait and find out.

strawberry fields forever

is there anything better on earth than berries? blueberries. strawberries. blackberries. raspberries. they are awesome!!!!

the day is coming

there is an update to the most memorable moment in KC. it seems as though my morning jacket is playing here in two weeks. and there are still tickets available. interesting.......

it's good to be king

i've had two moments in my life when true genius struck. there's probably been more, but i only remember two. they both involve food. that's probably why i remember them.

one night i was hanging out with pete and tanner and we went to the house of pies. i was really, really hungry that night. when our food came, i ate mine so fast that everybody else still had about 95% of their food left. for some reason, i put my plate on the table behind us. i have no idea why i did this. the waitress, who i noticed did not bring our food, came over to ask us how we were doing. i looked around and made a play. i told her that everybody else had received there food and my order didn't come. she said she was sorry and brought me another sandwich. i ate two sandwiches that night for the price of one. awesome move.

last night was another stroke of genius. as some of you know, i'm in kansas city. i had been out that evening and came back to my room, just laying around the room, watching television some time around 11 or midnight. my next door neighbors were being really loud. i thought about calling downstairs to the lobby or writing them a note telling them to shut the hell up. i thought there had to be a better way to get back at them. i had overheard them ordering a pizza on the phone. i thought, how awesome would it be if i jacked their pizza? that would teach them.

so i waited outside my room, by the elevators ready to intercept their pizza. i was pretty sure they had prepaid for it and all i had to do was pick it up. my wife called and i told her what i was doing. she did not agree with it, but she said i might as well do it right. she told me to go the lobby and meet the guy there. that way he would be glad not to have to come up to the room, we would not be close to the room if for some reason he needed to get in and it provided me with an escape if it backfired and they hadn't prepaid. so i did. i went downstairs and right as i was walking out of the elevator, the guy gets there. i hang up with my wife and approach him. i told him that miguel had called, which was the dude's name next door because i heard him say it, and that i was there to pick it for him. i tipped the guy and he gave me the pizza. i went back to my room and ate half of it laughing the whole time. i didn't hear them order another one, but someone did come to the room late, about forty-five minutes later. might have been another pizza, i'm not sure.

i heard them talking today. they're here for a wedding. so it's probably going to be a louder, later night than last night. if they order another item, i might go for it.

sheer genius. and the pizza was good too. really good. and big. that will probably be my highlight from my time in kansas city.

()

i used to work late nights sometimes in huntsville, texas. i used to work at a video production company called EVN, that stood for educational video network. we'd make horrible, horrible videos about not doing drugs and not using credit cards and making young people feel okay with who they were. but if they watched our videos, they'd probably be less okay with who they were and less okay with whoever, me, made these ridiculous videos. dave made great videos. i actually sought out his videos to watch. he would turn the ridiculous material into something visually stimulating and entertaining. i wonder what dave is doing now. no matter.

so i would work late, as indicated earlier in this post. working late at a young age has a way of detaching you with reality. i'm not sure why. now, it brings in reality. makes it more real. back then, it did the opposite. maybe i couldn't wrap my head around working that late. and i'm only talking about 9 or 10. it would dark of course. sometimes i'd take a break and sit outside in the dark. everybody was gone. most of us had class the next day, me included. but class was easy in huntsville, so i could do what i wanted. so i would. i would sit in my tiny office and blast sigur ros. blast it. i could hear it in every corner of that building. i would watch the videos too.

this was one of those videos. obviously the music grabbed my attention. it's an amazing, beautiful song. totally captivating you at every turn and twist. but the visuals were amazing. i was graduating with a degree in radio/tv so visuals were what i was about. i was also developing a keen photographer eye.

but i wondered. was this the story of the fallen titans? did their hubris finally get the best of them? did they wonder what it would be like to finally tag the other? the music was hopeful, while the visuals told of happiness staunched with patient trepidation. masks. ash. a playground. was this something i would experience? would my children? was fortune transformed to fleeting moments chasing normality?

the song has always leveled me. every time i hear it. i heard this band live. in houston, texas, of all places.

houston, texas. my old grounds.

if you have time, seek out other sigur ros videos. you won't be disappointed. i wish i knew the future. but what would i do with this information? saddled right on my back? were things really easier back then? probably not. it sure felt like it.

here we are, face to face....

we are halfway, HALFWAY, through 2011. hasn't it been something so far? i know right. the previews did not do it justice. things have been good in the music field.

you've got some great albums this year. here are some:

elbow- build a rocket boys
kurt vile- smoke ring for my halo
the strokes- angles
fleet foxes- helplessness blues
bon iver- bon iver
my morning jacket- circuital
radiohead- king of limbs
pains of being pure at heart- belong
wye oak- civilian
tennis- cape dory
cut copy- zonoscope
peter bjorn and john- gimme some
the dodos- no color
black lips- arabia mountain
panda bear- tomboy
the low anthem- smart flesh

two albums i missed somehow:
cults- cults
wu lyf- go tell fire to the mountain

two best albums so far:
destroyer- kaputt
thurston moore- demolished thoughts

that's the year so far. i know we have an album from wilco on the way. i think we might have an album from girls coming. good year. good year.

and how about those new ape movies? looking pretty wild!

ocean breathes salty

alan chang caught this crab in the waters of galveston, texas. the crab is now driving a bus in houston.

wrap your trouble in dreams

i have a cici's pizza shirt hanging in the window of my hilton hotel room. that, my friends, is class.

kansas city

kansas city is hot. and humid. and that was at 7:33 as i was walking to work. i have to walk about four blocks north and then four blocks west. i was soaking wet when i got to work. soaking. yuck.

i haven't done anything right now besides work and try to sleep. i'm having a hard time sleeping in a hotel again. in atlanta, i was miserable. i slept about 3-4 hours a night. i'm not sure why. if i missed my wife? my cat? my bed? or was worried/nervous? i have no idea. maybe just the bed sucked, which it did. last night i fell asleep quick, but woke up at four in the morning for some reason.

they do have a nice menu here. i had these awesome lumpy crabby spring rolls last night. and i'll have them again tonight. that's right. two nights in a row.

i wish i could be done with cpa. it won't let me go. it's my own fault. i've done as little as i can to pass and it shows. i guess that speaks to something to say that i've done so little and come so close. i know people who sequestered themselves for months. literally. and they passed. i didn't do that. now i'm doing that. in KC. i'm sequestered. and i'm going to study. and eat lumpy crabby spring rolls. and i'm going to pass. and be done. it's going to take longer than i thought, but i'm going to finish it.

the beehive state

fooling around the house this morning and this song came on the stereo. wait for the end. harry singing with himself is better than a butter shave.

Quantitative Easing Explained

velvet underground game cont.

i was able to connect the beach boys to the velvet underground. however, it took many steps:

1. follow the same path i made to get to the beatles in a previous blog
2. john lennon played in the beatles with george harrison
3. harry nilsson's 'pussycats' was produced by john lennon
4. van dyke parks collorated with harry nilsson on the 'popeye' soundtrack
5. brian wilson/the beach boys collaborated with van dyke on 'smile'

so that's more like 12/13 steps. but i was able to do it. it was a great moment. i was in atlanta at training and when i did it, i wanted to show everyone in the room. show them my handy work. but i was confident/complete sure that everyone in the room had no idea who the velvet underground are. pretty sure.

inside job

i've seen it twice now. everyone should take some time and watch this documentary. and eat some cheetos while you're doing it. i love cheetos.

my drunk kitchen

as someone who likes to drink, this might be the greatest idea/video i've ever seen.

the vampire squid continues

rolling stone's matt taibbi continues to amaze me with his sharp pen/keyboard. the dude eviscerates andrew ross sorkin's take on goldman's massive short. check it out.