At one point, I thought that people would read my blog just because I could find crazy little videos and “tidbits”, as I so cleverly referred to them. Now I think I realize that everyone has their own source of internet funny and weird and I just don’t have enough time to feed your habits.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that I’ve worked through caring about whether or not anyone reads this so, now as a liberated blogger, I can post whatever the crap I want. Especially all that personal life garbage that no one cares about because they have plenty of their own.

Things going on in my life: I got an assistantship at school doing web design. It’s pretty awesome. I get to listen to music and fix code all day and they pay for my school and then some. ‘Tis a good deal. I’m going to Michigan tomorrow for Stephanie’s grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. It’s going to be a long, cold drive but since it’ll give me many un-interruptible hours with my wife … it’ll be great. I am missing the season premier of LOST right now because I’m working in a computer lab at school … and there’s no one here. Actually, I would rather there be no one here and get paid to hang out with myself (basically) … but couldn’t they just pay me to hang out at home? : ) I have about two episodes left in season 3 of Battlestar Galactica. What a freaking awesome show. When we first got back into it with season 3 (we finished the first two in September) I wasn’t all that emotionally invested. Now, however, I’m so engrossed it’s ridiculous. Unfortunately, the magazine Rolling Stone managed to half-way ruin my excitement about the season finale. My brother told me that you find out who several of the other cylon models are in the last episode. In Rolling Stone’s recap of TV in 2007 they listed Battlestar as one of the best shows/moments of the year. They made some comment about the season finale being great and then proceeded to simply list several characters names with exclamation points. No disclaimer. No spoiler alert. No warning. Just names. As realization slowly dawned on me what I was reading I yelled aloud, closed the magazine, pushed it away from me, and looked at my wife with the saddest of sad faces. The people who wrote that section of that issue are BASTARDS. It’s just wrong to take something like that away from a fan. And that’s all I have to say about that.

I’ve added Andrew Bird into my music catalog from my new releases pile (see two posts ago). He has a pleasant baritone and a great indie-pop sensibility. Several of his songs have been lodged in my brain with all of their hook-tasticness. He does a good job of using instrumentation to his advantage and creating something rather unique out of a simple progression. I recommend checking him out. I have his “Armchair Apocrypha” album and the song “Plasticities” is catchy and pleasant.

Also, the songwriting is still going well with the band. We’re touching on some new and different genres for us in our exploration. Writing with cheap microphones/software and sending parts over email can get tiring and confusing though. I look forward to the coming weekends where we will have some face to face time to piss each other off, instead of via email : ) (That was a joke, in case you missed it) I’m excited to get to share what we’ve been working on with you all soon.

What I can share with you now are some funny videos that friends (Stevo, Evan) have showed me recently. I hope you find them as funny as I did.

In case you aren’t one of the 13 million people who have already seen this, there is a fantastic David Blaine spoof on youtube. There’s also a part 2 and 3. Almost as good as the first.

Here’s an energy drink “ad” for Powerthirst. It is one of the funniest things I’ve seen on youtube in a while.

CRASS WARNING: Charts that humorize hip-hop lyrics. The explanation/description makes no sense but it’s totally worth it.

I’d love to hear your comments on Battlestar, new music, funny youtube clips, and cool things going on in your own lives.

I wonder how many posts across the blogosphere start with, “I’m supposed to be doing [insert mandatory activity] right now but [insert lame excuse] so I’m blogging instead!”  Sometimes it’s nice to be like everyone else.

I have had such a huge influx of new music over the holidays that my mind has been blown.  Officially.  I’ve never had so much good stuff to listen to in my entire life.  I’m really going to have to pace myself over the next two months and (don’t tell my wife) really shouldn’t be allowed to buy anymore music until the summer.  One of the interesting discoveries I’ve made is that my listening habits are becoming a lot more experimental than before.  I think my tastes are evolving into something very … ‘egotistical’ is probably a good word choice.  I like music that I wouldn’t have appreciated not too long ago and, to my surprise, is not much appreciated by those around me.  But it’s getting my creative juices going for sure and that is the real gem.

The band music/songwriting is going fantastic right now.  I haven’t been this excited about writing/recording/performing for some time now.  I’m pretty gosh-darn lucky to get to rock out with some super creative musicians who are a constant reminder of how great everyone else’s ideas are.  I love it.

Now here’s the part where I talk about the albums I picked up and why the ones I’ve listened to are so awesome.

Yeah Yeah Yeah’s - Isis
This is guitar and drums rock at its best (sorry, White Stripes).  Karen O and her scraggly band of musicians churned out a sexual and groovy rock EP that gets my head and feet moving every time I listen.  Everything sounds so live that it’s wonderful.  Less is more, people.

Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
Electro-pop is what I call it and my first and only negative comment on the album, no acoustic drums, is starting to fade.  His heavy subject matter and light hearted musical treatment makes me happy.  Grooving bass lines, drum loops, and soaring melodies suck me in more each time.

Queen - Greatest Hits I & II
I show my novice music consumer side off with a “greatest hits” inclusion but I’ve made my peace with myself.  For obvious reasons Queen is fantastic but the first disc surprised me the most.  Part of the reason I wanted it was to educate myself and, I must say, I had no idea that they wrote all of the songs they did.  Freddie Mercury is undeniably one of the greatest frontmen of all time.  Their chord structures, variety, rhythms, harmonies, and powerful vocals cement them as a must have of any music collection.  My only drawback: I got really tired of the peace and love theme by the time the second disc was over.  A little more lyrical variation would have been nice … but maybe that’s what I get for getting a “greatest hits” : )

Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
He may be old but tired he is not.  While I can’t say I’m very familiar with his post-Beatles work this album is a perfect example of his songwriting genius translated into a modern medium.  Replete with classic acoustic instruments like banjos and organs as well as drum loops and synthesizers, it’s still sounds like Paul McCartney.  And it sounds good.  Drawback: the last song on the album, “Nod Your Head”, is the most inane thing I’ve ever heard.  Because I love everything else though I’m going to pretend it isn’t on the album.

Others that I’ve gotten and loved but haven’t had a chance to fully digest yet:

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Feist - The Reminder
Led Zeppelin - Mothership
KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic
Norah Jones - Not Too Late
Corinne Bailey Rae - Self Titled
Nirvanna - MTV Unplugged in New York
Red Hot Chili Peppers - By the Way
The Beatles - Rubber Soul
The Good, the Bad, The Queen - Self Titled
Brothers Martin - Self Titled
The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
And a few more …

Did I mention I have more new music than I’ve ever had in my life?

After a brief hiatus from tour blogging I’m back.  The last few days have been busy and brought us some great stories, most of which are available for consumption through video on our facebook group.  But for those of you who have sold your soul to WhoreBook here’s the low tech version.

Saturday night we had a fantastic turn out at Corbett McGee’s Irish Pub in Anderson.  The pub was great for hosting us and it made for a fun show for all of our friends.  Our good friend Daniel Machado was good enough to drive up from Columbia and open for us.  He played some great tunes off his upcoming album, which you should definitely be looking for in the near future.

The real story began when Daniel got back out to his car after the show.  He had one tire that was, in his words, “devastatingly flat”.  In the process of putting the spare on his tire iron split and, when he was forced to use wrenches to take the nuts off, he encountered one that was diabolically tight.  While attempting to remove the last nut we (the group of macho dudes who had inserted ourselves into the situation) managed to strip the outside.  Finally, Daniel decided to call it quits for the night and come bunk with the rest of the band until we could get back out there with bigger tools on Sunday.

We returned on Sunday with some tried and true tools, courtesy of one of our awesome band parents - Jeff Martin.  The tools included vice grips, a hammer, a sledge hammer, and a smattering of wrenches.  Instead of making more progress on loosening the bolt we (Daniel working while Stevo, Jamie, and I watched) only succeeded in striping the outside of the bolt further.  The highlight of the McGee parking lot experience was the sledgehammer putt-putt that was birthed from our boredom and a found golf ball.  Eventually, we called in the cavalry and towed the old Mustang to Wal-Mart for the help of professionals.

While in Wal-Mart we passed the time until the car was ready by consuming unholy amounts of Icee in Subway.  One great quote from that time was Daniel’s take on the porn industry: “I have mixed feelings about porn.  On the one hand it’s completely disgusting and perverse but on the other hand they look like they’re having a good time and making good money.”  Wally world’s prognosis on the car, once they got to it, was that we would have to go elsewhere to get the bolt removed.  Even the professionals couldn’t get it off.  It didn’t help though that they had “saved” his car until last, which meant that every other place in town was closed by the time we had the chance to take it elsewhere.

So Daniel decided to take matters into his own hands and bought a blow torch, crowbar, and chisel.  We spent the next two cold hours applying the blue flame to the nut and attacking it with a screwdriver, chisel, crowbar, and hammer.  We had given up on ever actually unscrewing the nut and only hoped to break it off or whittle it down to nothing.  All of our work was for naught, however, when we were done we had a dull chisel, marred crowbar, and a little less of a nut.  The indestructible lugnut lived on.  We decided to go ahead and have the object of our wrath towed again to Firestone where we hoped it could be taken care of early the next morning.  With all the speed of a one legged squirrel, the tow truck arrived and a good three hours later the car was in its next resting place.

On Sunday, after almost 48 hours of full out war, the Firestone employees had used their mechanical wizardry to remove the amazing indestructo-nut.  Apparently, it was on so securely that the rim had been destroyed in the removal process as well.  We weren’t really surprised.

While the weekend was long and frustrating at times, it ended up being totally awesome.  The show was great and we loved getting a chance to play for our friends and fans.  Daniel did an awesome job with his solo performing and, best of all, new friends were made during the trying time spent angrily attacking the nut.  Daniel aptly referred to our time as the “Fellowship of the Lugnut”.  For a more pop-culture approach to the story check out our video recaps on facebook.

We decided to cancel the Asheville gig due to the huge …. amounts of snow that were covering the mountains of North Carolina (and likely still are).  So we came up to Clemson early for Nate to start school today.  We’ve been working on some non-music band related things today, like video and web stuff, and came across a band that hijacked our radio single, “Roller Coaster”.  If you watch the youtube video of their version of the song the parallels become ridiculously obvious … a lawsuit will be forthcoming shortly.  Watch the video for yourself.

On to Anderson this evening to catch up with good friends.  See you guys on Saturday at Corbett’s!

Last night we managed to pull off our appearance as Radiohead.  No less than two people said that we “sounded better than Radiohead” - a comment which doesn’t hold up to scrutiny but boosts my easily influenced self esteem.  The highlight of our set was our closer, “Paranoid Android”, which we rocked out.  There is a video on youtube right now of our opening number and rumors of a video for the closing number but we’ll see.  We’re hoping to add a few, if not most, of the songs into our cover rotation.  Plus, we actually earned some dolores for our performance which was a welcome and awesome end to the evening.

This afternoon I played solo at Five Points Pub in downtown Columbia.  Jamie and Stevo came to support since Nate couldn’t make the age limit to get in.  It was a half cover / half original set that included “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley and “Army” by Ben Folds.  Hearing my voice clearly in the monitors is a true joy that, unfortunately, I don’t get much playing with a rock band.  It turns out that I can actually carry a tune : )

We’re 95% done with a new song that is a little bit of a departure for us in terms of form.  It’s also heavily influenced by our metalhead members - but in a good way.  We’re pretty excited about it and looking forward to debuting it sometime soon.  We have another song almost “in the can”, as they say, and a few more in the development stages.  The albums seems to be coming together.

See you at a local venue soon : )

Technically it’s only been day one for a few minutes, but I’ve been wanting to write a tour diary my whole life so I’m a little eager.  Today was the first day of many miles and hours spent in the ol’ faithful malibu - almost 500 miles and over 7 and 1/2 hours, in the rain no less.  Tonight we’re going to be rocking out a Radiohead cover set at New Brookland Tavern’s New Years Eve show.  We’re all really excited and nervous about it.  We have all be practicing on our own and in various configurations but never as a whole band until today - hence the nervousness.

I personally am coming of somewhat of an emotional roller coaster over the holidays.  Lots of family, several states, and many nights away from home have somehow unsettled me and heightened my typically low-level anxiety.  Tonight was a great alleviator though as we ran through the set before Stevo arrived from NC and spent the rest of the evening playing God’s glorious invention: the Xbox 360.  Call of Duty 4 is just one amazingly beautiful game and the single player campaign is intense, engrossing, and tons-o-fun.  Rock Band, on the other hand, is earning my ire.  As a musician, when I play a rhythm game I expect to be rewarded and not chastised when I play my instrument correctly.  Guitar Hero doesn’t seem to have any problem responding to my playing so why should Rock Band be any different?  It shouldn’t.  It is.  It makes me feel like that egotistical guy that comes over to your house, plays the game for 30 seconds, and then decides that it’s the games fault that he’s not winning … except this time it really is the game’s fault.  But that’s a whole other topic : )

It’s been fantastic to hang out with the guys as well.  I forget how much fun we have together sometimes.  Often there’s only time for business during our visits.  Tomorrow as we start rehearsal in earnest the “good times” might get a little heated but tonight was a nice chance to kick off the tour with non-gigging related R&R.  Can’t wait to rock 4 states in two weeks and to see you at a show.

I am an extraordinarily blessed guy. I haven’t been here long at all but already I’ve learned a wealth of information and gotten to see some amazing stuff. Like today, for instance, I got to sit in on a session at a professional studio called The Sound Kitchen. You should check the link for their roster of clients. Yes, there were platinum albums hanging on the walls in the hallway. Yes, there was a sheik chill room / kitchen. Yes, it was amazing. And yes, I got pictures for you to marvel at the cool opportunities God is giving me.

One of our teachers “canceled” our once-a-week class because he had an opportunity to record a big band at the Sound Kitchen. He turned it into a kind of field trip for us.

We started off the trip with a stop a Wendy’s and, since I’m a ham, I couldn’t resist.

The high-class entrance to the studio.

The aforementioned lounge area.

The magical control room in the “Big Boy” studio.

The required console (custom API Legacy Plus, 80 inputs) shot.

Logo proof of the custom design on the end of the console and stereotypical lava lamp.

More console porn.

Me badly faking mixing on the board : ) I had to be careful not to actually touch something during the recording process or tick off my teacher who was kinda busy doing real work while I was taking pictures.

The beautiful Pro Tools HD and G5 heart of the beast.

The Pro Tools monitor that says, if you can make it out, “Pro Tools HD 7.3.1″ in the top left corner. Those tiny letter and numbers cost so very much money.

Our crack team of graduate students adeptly and enthusiastically observing the session.

A broad shot of the, as they say in the biz, “tracking space”.

Some very cool diffusers/absorbers that did a mind boggling good job of isolating the piano while an entire big band played.

And the tracking space from the other side.

Did I mention how blessed I am? : )