Well, what are we doing?

Hello.

My, what a crazy world it's been since the last time I updated this thing. So many people have died! It's crazy! I think that the whole "Left Behind" thing is starting to take off and Jesus is hand-picking his favorite people to make up his army that he will unleash upon the earth to cleanse its soil of sin. But that's just my two cents...

Anyway, I've been listening to a lot of exciting stuff lately. In retrospect, 2009 really wasn't a bad year for music. O Pioneers!!! and Bomb the Music Industry! both released an excellent record apiece (Neon Creeps and Scrambles, respectively), the new Propagandhi album "Supporting Caste" is freakin' shred-heaven, and The Jonbenet released their final EP, "Substances."

Speaking of The Jonbenet, I had the pleasure of seeing their final show at Walter's On Washington on Saturday, December 19th, and it was easily one of the most epic shows I have ever been to. My neck was killing me from all of the intense head banging and bromantic displays of brofection (wtfdidijustsay?).

Vocalist Michael Murland was spewing all sorts of depressing anecdotes about how shitty his life has been over the past few years and how much he hates himself... Dude's a true artist. Anyway, they destroyed the stage and played all of my favorite songs from the new tunes (The Children Will Always Be Bored, The Sun, The Memphis Blues), the Ugly/Heartless days (basically the whole album), and even the classics from The Plot Thickens (Behold The White Whore, Dramarama, Eating Lightening Pt. 1, etc.). The set lasted 15 songs and two bass players, (with Chris "Badlose" taking over at the end of the set) and it couldn't have been a better way for such a great band to go out. They will definitely be missed.

Here's what I'm listening to right now:

The Jonbenet - Substances EP

The Brass - Homosapien EP

Kudrow - Lando EP

Black Congress - Davidians & London's Burning

Bomb the Music Industry! - Goodbye Cool World

Dillinger Four - CIVILWAR

Iron Age - The Sleeping Eye

Mammoth Grinder - Extinction of Humanity

I've definitely been on a punk/metal/hardcore binge over the past few weeks, which is interesting because I was all about hip-hop at the end of the semester... Whatever. S'all good.

Added Bonus: Here's some video I took at the Jonbenet show. Enjoy!

ignition (remix)

So here's what I've been listening to:

1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

2. Low - Things We Lost in the Fire

3. Blacklisted  - Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God

4. TV on the Radio - Dear Science

5. Wavves - Wavves

6. Dr. Dre - The Chronic 2001

7. No Age - Nouns

8. Dr. Dog - Fate

Here's what I've been watching as well:

1. Frost/Nixon

2. Fully Flared (The Lakai footwear skate video)

3. Synecdoche, New York

I need to talk about that third one for a second... I had high hopes going into this movie, but it disappointed the shit out of me. I love Philip Seymour Hoffman and Charlie Kaufman, but this film was just too much for me. Maybe I just need to watch it again... I don't know. It's whatever.

Things I want that I don't need:

1. A new skateboard.

2. A tube-driven guitar combo amplifier (a mouthful, I know). 

3. A Nikon D40

I Craigslist these things everyday in an effort to find a magical deal that will make me happy... Unfortunately, I keep spending all of the money I have on food. 

Eating out is so expensive these days...

I have an apartment for the summer and for the fall. 

1. University Springs (Summer)

2. University Club (Fall)

I'm also going to Arkansas this summer. Time to see Mema Taylor again! Sweet!

Listen to the records I listed above. 

Support a band you know nothing about. 

Do it. 

Live it.

Enjoy it.

golden age

TV on the Radio is awesome. It took me a while to download any of their stuff, but I finally got around to it. The song "Golden Age" is phenomenal. No lie. 

I'm trying to listen to more music. Newer music. I keep falling into ruts. Lame. Fail. 

So it's time to expand! Hooray!

Working on speech stuff for next year. Gotta bring it. 

Also looking for a bass amp that will double as a guitar amp. 

I want to play music, but not seriously. 

Let's jam, bro. 

Do it. 

under my thumb

What I'm listening to:
1. The Rolling Stones
2. No Age
3. Prince
4. Mates of State
5. Dr. Dog
6. Wavves*

*Wavves is some noisy, pop band I stumbled across (literally) when looking at the 7"s in Waterloo. I didn't buy their record, because it looked like trash, but I recognized the cover because it was posted on No Age's blog
(trash/trash/trash). I found one of their songs on Playlist.com and it's pretty rad. The song is called, "So Bored" and it's all fuzzy. Check it out.

twitter

I have it:

twitter.com/sorryimlate

follow me.

it's bigger than...

Tonight, I downloaded some more hip-hop/rap records. 

Here is what I downloaded:

1. Ice Cube - Amerikkka's Most Wanted

2. Ice Cube - Death Certificate

3. Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt

4. Eric B. & Rakim - Paid in Full

5. N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton

6. The Roots - Game Theory

7. Nas - Illmatic 

I look forward to listening to all of them.

Thoughts?

and some of them always remind me

of what I'm not doing or what I should have been doing. 

No, I did not compete this year. Just let it go, please. Thanks. 

Sometimes I feel that my "laziness" was just a mask. But anyway...

Here are some pictures of the man that was supposed to save us all:

tracy morgan

Tracy Morgan is brilliant. 

Watch his interview with David Letterman from like a year ago. It's epic. 

gary busey

"Cameras are the weapons of now." - Gary Busey

Brilliance. 

the american black lung - good vibrations

A while back I ordered The American Black Lung's new 7", "Good Vibrations." 

It took about a month for the record to get to me because the guy who runs the label and handles shipping was on tour or something when I put my order through, so he didn't see it when he got back, therefore it "fell through the cracks" as he put it.

Fair enough.

Anyway, it's a great little record. 

Fantastic packaging too. The record was printed on clear vinyl, with some red streaks running throughout. The guy also threw in a couple of EPs from some other bands on 1912 Records.

They're okay.

So the three songs that make up this record are "Good Vibrations," "You Better Learn English," and "Open For Editing."

All have a lot of punk influence along with some southern riffage thrown in for good measure. 

I think these guys have toured with The Jonbenet, which makes sense, because both bands embody the same sort of chaotic-style of rock n' roll. 

The American Black Lung is much less metal-influenced though, so keep that in mind. 

You can buy this record for like 10 bucks on the 1912 records website: 

http://1912.bigcartel.com

So check it out. 

Or not. 

Your call. 

roll with the new

I'm bored and I want a place to talk about whatever, so here I am.

I've been listening to Things Fall Apart from The Roots a lot lately. Check it out if you're into that sort of thing

I'm moving into an apartment next year. I'm moving up in the world.

I changed my major to Geography and my minor to Comm. Studies.

I'm living in San Marcos over the summer and taking summer classes as well as working as a CA (hopefully). 

Not bad.

It is currently Spring Break. 

I am going to do a lot of reading.

I ordered a bunch of poetry books, as well as some prose, and I am looking forward to reading it all. 

It feels good to start fresh.