Done… Painting
April 13, 2007 | Filed Under Main | No Comments
And the entire house is now a pale yellow. Very reflective. It’s so bright, I gotta wear shades.
Now I move on to my next vacation endeavor - installing our new computer. Since it took nearly 4 hours just to backup all our photos/documents/iTunes, I can only imagine that this will take the rest of the weekend. Good thing there is a huge storm coming (some of you are seeing it all ready). Certainly won’t be able to do much else.
*sigh* vacation…
Then maybe with the “honey-do”’s done, I will be able to relax. Write more. Maybe even fill in my bio. That would be special…
Tribe
April 11, 2007 | Filed Under Music | No Comments
I was listening yesterday to one of those lost bands I seem to gravitate to. You know - one or two fantastic albums, no records sales and suddenly - poof! Gone forever.
Tribe was one of those bands. A local Boston favorite, their first album “Abort” came out amidst the rise of grunge and U2’s “Achtung Baby” and was as good as ANY of those records. Catchy melodies, oddly dark lyrics, great guitar works and the gorgeous harmonies of Janet LaValley and Terri Barous made this album perfect. The big hit in Boston was “Joyride”. If you see this album in a cut-out bin somewhere - grab it. You will not be disappointed.
I will now try to upload a cut from the record and see if it works…
Wednesday
April 11, 2007 | Filed Under Main | 5 Comments
And I’m on vacation again! And this vacation will consist of… painting. Yes, right now I’m supposed to be priming and the next three days will follow the same itinerary. Sound like fun? Want to join me? Sure - I could have gone to Puerto Rico. But two things collided with that notion: 1) My son’s grades and 2) my wife, Kerry, wanted to paint the interiors some lame color that I will instantly dislike because the paint’s sole function is to “reflect light” - not offer any color or warmth or personality of its own. I will be living in a hospital room. Or an architectural office. But I’m a guy and guy’s have no say so I figure I’ll take these three days to try and get used to it as best as I can. Still sound like fun?
I haven’t posted in a few days because it looked like I would be kicking Tom Waits off the front page with my next post. And Mr. Waits is one of my heroes. See you, Tom! Check out his video under archives.
Last word before painting - Don Imus. Never listened to him. Never cared. Knew he existed. So he said a bone-headed, racist statement. Anyone ever listen to Rush Limbaugh? Well - not me. I don’t care about him either. I DON’T CARE WHAT THESE NIMRODS HAVE TO SAY. So - why does everyone else seem to? Answer: They don’t. It’s just that the media is SOOO tired of talking about Bush and the War and Anna Nicole went and died on them and Paris and Britney are hiding so WHAT ELSE CAN THEY TALK ABOUT?! Now - what was a stupid, racist comment made toward a great women’s basketball team on a show no one really heard has been REPEATED a gazillion times on every major, mainstream, dumbass media outlet on the planet!!
Who inflicted the most damage on these women? I’ve got my answer…
Added to iPod
April 7, 2007 | Filed Under Music | No Comments
I told you I was obsessed…
Joe Strummer - Streetcore
Shockrock - Various Artists. It is a compilation of music that is a mix of edgy new wave and Big Beat techno.
Jeff Buckley - Mystery White Boy. This is a live album and he’s brilliant anyway. Was brilliant. But the selling point was him doing my favorite Alex Chilton song, “Kanga Roo”.
Bram Tchaikovsky - Greatest Hits blended from his two albums “Strange Man, Changed Man” and “Pressure”. The best example for power pop. And I burned from the vinyl because there are NO CDs. Yes - somethings have not been turned into digital yet.
Good. I’m over 5,800 songs now.
Inherit The Wind #2
April 7, 2007 | Filed Under Theater | No Comments
We weren’t allowed to have the program while we were sitting onstage, so they gave it to us after the show and I shoved it in my bag.
I was sitting on a SANTO LOQUASTO SET!!! He is only a legend on Broadway. I’m very excited now.
Inherit The Wind
April 7, 2007 | Filed Under Main, Theater | No Comments
“He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind
And the fool shall be the servant to the wise of heart.”
So, I was on Broadway last light - capping my biggest NY theater week in quite a few years. And when i say I was “on” Broadway, I mean I was onstage! I went to see the new production of Inherit The Wind at the Lyceum Theater in the city. The great conceit was that seats for the show are available onstage - as part of the audience in the courtroom. My wife’s cousin Bobby met me nearby at Virgil’s Bar-B-Que (a favorite) to fortify ourselves for the experience. When we arrived, we were lead onto the stage. Our coats and bags were placed in lockers at the back of the stage and then we were escorted to our flat, wooden bleacher seats that basically became the backdrop for the entire production. The Lyceum is actually one of the smaller theaters and fairly intimate so there were maybe only 50 of these seats. It was very cool. No curtains opened or closed. The play happened in fornt of us and around us. Christopher Plummer played Drummond (the Clarence Darrow character) and Brian Dennehy played Brady (the William Jennings Bryan character). As this is based on the Scopes trial (you all know that one,right?), the arguments certainly reverberated (for me at least). And in the hands for those two amazing actors, how could you go wrong?
Lots of fun and I highly recommend the experience.
Instant Messages
April 6, 2007 | Filed Under Theater, Writing | No Comments
This is one of my short plays. You can find it under Written Works.
Easter
April 6, 2007 | Filed Under Main | No Comments
Maybe I’m a kid at heart (or possibly just a child. It depends on the day). But certain holidays get me totally focused. One of them is Easter. I always liked Easter. Of course, having a basket of candy was a very appealing thing. And days off from school. The occasional Easter egg hunt. I also started to look forward to the week of religious-themed films on “The 4:30 Movie” prior to Easter. Five days of the King Of Kings followed by The Robe. What more could you want from a holiday? My parents always had the whole day arranged. They would do their work in the dead of night so that surprises were ready for us in the morning.
Fast forward a couple of decades later, and I get to do Easter for my son, Chris. Now, I started off small because walking was an issue. Just a basket – jelly beans, some peeps, a solid chocolate rabbit, and chocolate eggs. A straight forward, standard basket. Then as he became more mobile, I started setting little trails of jelly beans from his room to lead him to the basket. Sometimes, there would be fake trails. This worked okay until I made the trail too complex one year and Chris came up to the bedroom crying because he couldn’t find the basket. Then I started using the hollow, plastic eggs for the trail and filling them with little toys or cars. One year I used silver dollars.
Later years became bigger. The toys became more important than the candy. For example, there was a Pokemon basket when he was heavy in that phase. Also, the candy strayed from the traditional to the exotic. See - I get obsessed. I’m pretty good at buying gifts. I think about it. I look for ideas. I try to put together a theme. I challenge myself. I enjoy it! Especially if I’m shopping for Chris. Trust me, I am great at shopping for a child. My wife is an entirely different matter. I haven’t always been a successful in that endeavour. But not for lack of trying. How many guys do you know gave their loved one PiL’s Metal Box for Valentine’s Day? Not bad…
However, the past few years have been somewhat low key as he morphed from child to teenager. I even thought we wouldn’t have a basket this year – which would be the first time ever. But then Chris actually suggested what types of candy he would like to see in the basket. So I started thinking about it again. And I started shopping. And I’ve got the hollow, plastic eggs and some small things to put in them and I’ll make a trail. I think I have enough candy for the month – and in many delectable flavors! Peeps of all shapes and sizes. A few toys. I’m going all out this year.
Why?
Because he’s seventeen. He’s my only child. And I may not get the chance to do this again. He’s growing up. It may start to look stupid to him. He’ll grow out of it. He has to. I did for a while, too. That’s life. But I don’t want to let him go just yet. I don’t know whether it will mean anything to him, but it means a lot to me. I can’t even explain to you how short this time has been – at least when you look back. I’ll try and stretch that for one more weekend.
Recently Added to iPod
April 4, 2007 | Filed Under Music | 2 Comments
One of the things about pop/rock music being so awful the past few years is that you look for other sounds. I have found more joy out of more instrumental music than the regular pop tune (though I did just get my Warped Tour tickets the other day). Check out these albums:
Explosions In The Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
Ethel - Light
Tin Hat - The Sad Machinery of Spring
Explosions I saw recently at Webster Hall and these guys are great! Four guys from Texas in the standard configuration, but far from standard sounds. They were the soundtrack to the movie Friday Night Lights.
Ethel is a string quartet that opened for Joe Jackson & Todd Rundgren a couple of years ago. They are very contemporary and kicked butt at the show when everyone performed “While My Quitar Gently Weeped” (the strings played the lead guitar lines). They also remind me of the music we heard on the late lamented Deadwood.
I know nothing about Tin Hat except they were playing this album in my local CD store and I totally fell in love. Kind of dark but gentle. Reminds me of Kurt Weil. Jazzy and smoky. Check out the links.
Added to iPod
April 3, 2007 | Filed Under Music | No Comments
Fleetwood Mac - Futre Games/Bare Trees
Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
Kronos Quartet - Black Angels
and Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth by the Primitive Radio Gods. Good single.
Now - for some reason after spending the day with Coast Of Utopia, I realized I have no Shostakovich on the iPod. But I am not well versed in classical music (basically, I know what I like). And it is easy to get lost in the options available. So maybe someone out there can point his definitive symphony or the best concertos. What was an excellent performance and who do I want to stay away from.
I would greatly appreciate the suggestions!
Land of Ten Thousand Lakes
April 3, 2007 | Filed Under Main, Writing | No Comments
Another short story added to “Written Works”.
Chocolate Jesus!
April 3, 2007 | Filed Under Main, Music | No Comments
Ash Wednesday
April 2, 2007 | Filed Under Main, Writing | No Comments
One of my short stories. You can find it under “Written Works“. Hope you enjoy it.
Added to iPod
April 1, 2007 | Filed Under Music | 1 Comment
Songs of Leonard Cohen - The great part of this album is that a handfull of songs on it make up the soundtrack for my favorite movie, Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Graham Parker - Squeezing Out the Sparks
Chet Baker - Chet Baker Sings & Live in Tokyo
Robert Fripp - Exposure (burned from the vinyl)