i couldn't catch a decent hand to save my life last night, and if i did i couldn't get any action on it...just terrible. i made it to the final table but that was just barely by the skin of my teeth. the hand that did me in was the best i had seen all night. blinds were at 150/300 and my stack was right at 1750. i was sitting in the big blind and look down to find Ah-9h. we were 7 handed and first to act folds, second to act (big stack) raises to 650, then everyone folds through the small blind to me. i raise to 1200 and 4th position (now my arch-nemesis) quickly goes all in so i had "no choice" but to call. he flips over pocket jacks, i catch nothing and then start sobbing into my supplicating hands. needless to say, a frustrating end to a frustrating night....yarrrrrr.
after last night, i'm thinking about changing games and playing a lot more california hold 'em.... what, you haven't heard of this? then just wait 'til my twelves bust out your elevens!! ....seriously, wait, it will happen, soon.
::beaner::
1.19.2006
oh the cards, damn the cards...
1.18.2006
i have been gone for oh so long...
but i have listened to a lot of music and played some poker. i didn't get rich while i was gone because you have to spend money to make money, blah, blah, etc... however, i did fairly well...placing second behind a good friend in the weekly poker game hosted by WCP . i will also now be playing in this game a little more regularly and hopefully getting into the points system that determines winners for each "season" of play throughout 2006. i will keep you updated on how that goes... winning is everything though, i need a bankroll to keep playing.
as far as music goes, the best thing that i can tell you to do right now is to go and sign up for e-music (seriously, not just for my benefit...for your own wallet's) and download all of the music that is listed on my sidebar under "most recent downloads".... seriously, i can't help you if you don't help yourself....like god, only with music and not anything else.... oh, and i also own your soul.
most importantly, get the latest album by criteria, when we break.
rising from the ashes of one of my personal faves, the white octave (which itself finds its roots in another stalwart of my collection, cursive), criteria takes the white octave sound and smooths it out a little and then plows forward. their first release, en garde, as their website puts it, was "criminally overlooked", but what they did get was attention from indie powerhouse saddle creek records. their follow-up LP, when we break, was realeased in august to critical acclaim and saddle creek has re-released en garde as a result. listen to it, its good, i promise.
"i'm stuck in a basement world..."
::songs::
from en garde
- it happens
- me on your front porch
from when we break
- prevent the world
- run together
::other related tracks::
the white octave - style no. 6312
- appeals for insertion
- call the kiss
- style no. 6312
cursive - such blinding stars for starving eyes
- retirement
(ed: cursive has gone on to bigger and more brilliant things, but this album was the only LP put out with Steve Pedersen on guitar, who later went on to form the white octave and criteria)
12.16.2005
support independent music...
as you might have gathered, i am now a huge fan of the online mp3 site, emusic.
the genesis of this infatuation came from a conversation with a friend who told me that he had just signed up for a site that gave him 50 free downloads to keep during a trial period and then 40/month for $9.99/month. i kind of took this as a "if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is" kind of thing. but my curosity was piqued so i checked it out. at first i was convinced that it was some kind of subscription service like napster or rhapsody. i looked and looked through the "terms and conditions" but found no such strings, and it looked like there were no usage limits or proprietary encoding. (at this point i probably sound like a paid endorser, but i'm not). so, i started looking for music to see what kind of choice i had. i found a lot of stuff, in fact, most of the music that (if you read my sidebar) was stolen previously. all of the music is from independent labels, so pretty much right up my alley...and i found a lot of stuff in that alleyway. so i signed up for my 50 free downloads, 5 minutes later i had 1 left. so then i activated my first month's subscription and i now have 2 total downloads left and 30 days to wait until my account reloads OR i can buy a 50 download "booster pack" for $14.99....which will probably happen here pretty soon... 88 downloads in about 15 minutes, that's some sort of record.
so, needless to say i am now up to my elbows in music and will need to buy a bigger ipod soon....i do accept donations for this worthy cause.
also, on my sidebar under the "recently purchased" section will now be a list of emusic albums that i have downloaded.
if you decide to try this out, even the free trial, click on the banner on my sidebar...i get more downloads if you do that.... yay for me!
peace.
11.29.2005
wwfsmd...
i don't know why it took me so long to share the good news...
for more truths and the complete story, visit:
www.venganza.org
and to all of those who believe that pirates really can save us from ourselves, i say:
yarrr
11.28.2005
check it out...
i stumbled across these guys today and thought i might share them with all of you. hailing from Echo Park, CA, they have a couple of ep's out and just signed with The Militia Group. sort of a garage-esque jangly sound with good harmonic guitar parts overlaid and vocals very reminiscent of one of my personal faves, red animal war. look for their first full length out on said label in mid-2006.
here are some songs:
- detox
- the easy life
- same as it was
and mainly because i started thinking about them, not for comparison sake:
the first full length, breaking in an angel, was put out on Deep Elm and i have since been smitten. taking their name from a line in the book red badge of courage, these guys play smart, angular rock with heart-on-the-sleeve post-hardcore breakdowns that punctuate the songs lending intensity to already emotionally-charged compositions. the intelligent and insightful lyrics are conveyed with distinctive and urgent vocals. i would recommend any album by these guys, but especially Breaking in an Angel, their first and most raw effort.
from Breaking in an Angel
- weak bones may break
- hope
from Black Phantom Crusades
- still
- right now, today, i don't believe in hell
from Polizida
- satellites
- mexico
11.11.2005
if everyone jumped off a cliff...
the boys at wicked chops wrote about this first, but i would also like to put in my 2 cents....or 2 pence in this case.
according to the BBC, the UK is looking at banning all internet poker ads that induce people to gamble, as in offering free entry into tourneys and free grand prizes like cars, trips, and other assorted awards. "why?", you ask, because they do not want to encourage people to start down the road toward a gambling problem.
now, i understand that gambling can become an addictive habit, like alcohol, smoking, or narcotics...all of which have their respective "anonymous" clubs, gambling included. this is a touching concern for the UK govt. to have for its citizens, and commendable, too ... if it weren't so hypocritical.
the national lottery in the UK is much like the lotteries you know and love in the US, you buy a ticket (there's a bunch of ways to play) and there are drawings or scratch-offs....and it has its own tv show...on tv, where ads run (or adverts), in between the parts of the lottery show. people watch this show, where the amount of the prizes are shown and inducements given for playing the lottery, and then spend their hard-earned money on a chance, nay, a gamble, that their ticket will come up a winner. tv > inducement > gamble > gambling problem ... does this not follow the same formula that the govt. accuses the poker industry of following?
it would appear that the state is allowed to induce you to gamble, but no one else is ... especially if the gambling requires skill. one assumes that you just cross your fingers as the logo suggests, instead of using your brain.
question: if the state is trying to protect you from yourself, who is protecting you from the state?
11.10.2005
my feet literally haven't touched the ground....
...for the last few weeks. i can't even begin to explain how instupituously busy i have been. needless to say that we are now homeowners (in debt up to our eyeballs) and more well-travelled than we were before.
the weekend to start the madness was like the movie four weddings and a funeral, only with just 3 weddings and no funeral, so it would be more like a sequel: more weddings and a wedding then a conference. minneapolis followed by denver and then big canoe.
then a day later i went to sao paulo, brazil for a week to a non-profit conference that we organized. i would like to tell you about the city and its urban sprawl and overwhelming poverty, but all i saw was the hotel, the conference center, and the inside of my eyelids.
...or was it...
there are some of you who might appreciate this - it was about 12.15am one morning and i had just returned to my room where i turned on the tv in the hopes of having it lull me to sleep. as i was flipping through the channels, i saw a familiar face....i thought and looked more closely and sure enough it was a very young looking Mark from the upcoming season of the Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Gauntlet II and several previous challenges. the premise appeared to be that a hitchhiker had stolen his truck and wallet and so he himself was hitchhiking, some guy picked him up and picked him up and after 30 seconds of conversation offered him a job as a lifeguard at the santa monica beach club. he arrived, blah, blah, blah, bad plot, stupid movie...falling a..sl..eep...him and woman walking to jacuzzi.... then all of a sudden its all asses and elbows, and i'm wide awake. some of you might point out that i should have seen this coming, but i was tired so leave me alone. anyway, that prompted a quick channel change (lest it somehow show up on the hotel bill even though i never pressed any buttons, i swear, i think Cine Action becomes Cine Erotica after midnight) and a note to self to tell the wife....because she likes Mark and its fun to crush people's perceptions of other people.
i really am truly sorry that this is the best story that i have to tell after so much time off, but other stories would be work-related or inside jokes, and that's just not cool.
anyway, i just got done with the madness and am moving this weekend into the new ITP (for ATL people) residence, where i shall be able to again live a normal life and have extra time to write and look for music.
unfortunately, i have had no time to look for or buy new music although the list is getting longer of bands to check out and music to buy, beg, borrow, or steal.
i'm open to suggestions for music and anything else you might like to suggest to me....please keep in mind i'm not very flexible.
some tracks that have nothing to do with anything:
last days of april - i'm calm now
antarctica
- absence
- full crescent crusade
dntel - life is full of possibilities
starflyer 59 - wake up early
bear vs. shark
- 5,6 kids
- the great dinosaurs with fifties section
- seven stop hold restart
joan of arc - white out
::beaner::
10.18.2005
cause and effect....
so i first remember hearing about Reggie and the Full Effect when their album promotional copy came out, mainly because it was so good and so weird in so many ways. it came out when emo was burgeoning right around 2000 and some of the songs were awesome post-punk power pop masterpieces with tguk and anniversary-ish keyboards, some were more like an emo Adam Sandler. my memory is not always what i would like it to be, but i don't remember not thinking that "Reggie" was the keyboardist from tguk. however, apparently there was this whole "thing" over his real identity that i just found out about, whatever. the band consists of James Dewees (the keyboardist and one-time drummer for seminal hardcore band Coalesce) and that is it, just him and his weird sense of humor.
the song that caught my attention back then was called "dwarf invasion", it was written about, well, a dwarf invasion. the lyrics went something like this:
" (hoch hoch.....[repeated many times in background])
hallo americans
this is claus from common denominators
that's the band you are listening to right now
we are from finland
this is our debut album here in america, das grund
this is the dwarf invasion blah
one two three four
you are not my friend
you are my foe
you are two feet tall
you have got to go
this is dwarf invasion (dwarf invasion)
dwarf invasion (dwarf invasion) (dwarf invasion) (dwarf invasion)
shut up dirk
this is not a friend
you are very small
you can barely stand up to me
you can't play basketball
this is dwarf invasion (dwarf invasion)
thank you very much for having us in your country
we'll see you next year
goodnight
go back to the room
go back
so not the most serious thing i have ever heard, but it was funny and the rest of the album was good.
reggie fell off my radar for a little while during the time that screamo and other harder versions of this music occupied my music listening hours, and, to be honest, stuff that was less of a joke and more serious.
pick back up in the present day and i just heard i song from their new album Songs Not to Get Married To on Vagrant that i really like. apparently he just got a divorce, hence the name of the album, and the new stuff is a little different than it used to be, here is a quote from the man himself:
"This is my new record. It is a little less silly than the last three, but I recently got divorced and lost everything so I don't have much to celebrate these days. However, I am still a happy camper, just single camping now. I hope you enjoy the new record and if my ex-wife is one of those unknown people who gets one of these bios…wow, you scored hella good huh?"
so, yeah... there's no bitterness there. a little more of the Coalesce side of him comes through in some metal-ish songs, but there are also some pop gems included.
anyway, all of that to say that i liked the song and thought that you might also enjoy it, so here you go:
- get well soon
and some other songs from the new album:
- what the hell is contempt?
- what the hell is stipulation?
and an old song just for the hell of it from promotional copy, mainly becuase i can't find the dwarf invasion mp3 anywhere on the whole wide worldwide web:
- from me 2 u
::bye bye::
10.13.2005
i just couldn't stop laughing....
i found out this morning that one of my good friends (who i love dearly) is thinking of getting a new puppy. when asked by my wife what breed, she replied "a golden doodle".... dead silence on my end while this was being relayed to me. i finally broke down and asked what a "golden doodle" is and was directed to www.atlantagoldendoodles.com . apparently, this is a mix between a golden retriever and a poodle. i did some research and found a link to www.goldendoodles.com, where i also found a breed called a "labradoodle".
let the hilarity ensue....
in light of my recent discovery of these cross-breeds, i have some suggestions for other crosses that might involve the ubiquitous poodle:
weinoodle
rottwoodle
shitzoodle
st. bernoodle
great doodle (the mechanics of this breeding session would be mind boggling)
australian shepoodle
chihuawoodle
i also found this quote on www.goldendoodles.com:
"The size of the Dood depends on its parentage."
it just seems so obvious that the parentage having something to do with the size of the ... oh wait, they didn't, did they? they did...
what happens if you get a golden shower from a golden doodle?
10.12.2005
out of necessity...
so now that my favorite poker blog/news site has my blog linked on their page, i feel compelled to update and post more...also i just wanted to.
Brunch for the Bayou - this was a great event and in its entirety (auction, poker tourney, donations, etc) i overheard someone say that they were going to clear about $50k for Operation: Home Delivery and Habitat for Humanity. the tourney itself went well (mostly because i was the tourney director, ahem) and was won by Sammy "killer" Reid, go here for a complete update.
i was watching steven's untitled rock show on fuse while doing something else that needed decent background music and as i was about to turn off the tv and head to bed and i hear the opening notes of one of the best songs ever written... "seven" by Sunny Day Real Estate. in high school (when the album diary came out) my parents didn't pay for MTV so i never got a chance to see this video on alternative nation or 120 minutes, and believe it or not this was the first time i had ever seen it. it was low tech brilliance at a time before internet and digital editing on home pc's... i salivated over every second of it, and marveled at how young Jeremy looks, especially with the nose ring. ahhh, the good old days. i listened to the whole album on my hi-tech ipod today and loved it again. i could almost close my eyes and be back in high school.
i just followed a bunch of links while looking for links and spent a lot of time reading old forums and message boards from when SDRE broke up what seems like a milion years ago and then got back together....all of that to say that i have used up all of my blog time this evening.
there is more to write about, but that will come at a later date...i promise.
9.23.2005
let's make this short and sweet...
when it comes to reviewing albums, i'm not very good at the superfluous flowing descriptions of the sound contained within a record. the stuff that usually ends up not telling you anything at all about whether or not you will like the album, just leaves you with an adjective overdose.
so my new addition to this blog will be short/sweet album reviews that will tell you if i like the record or not, and that is it. of course, you then would have to trust my judgement which is your own decision anyway. i like what i like and can't be held liable for an album that you buy and don't like....although i'm sure that i will end being sued by a disgruntled reader for misleading album reviews...
also keep in mind that i don't have unlimited funds or labels sending me stuff to review, so i have to buy albums that i think i will like to start with, so a lot of my reviews will be positive.... unless someone, or a label, wants to provide me with material for reviewing ..... (anyone, hello?) in which case, there would be negative reviews to balance out the glowing reviews, presumably.
on with the show:
"brilliant. buy it if you like the old stuff, buy it if you've never heard it....just listen to it."
"awesome. the whole album. start to finish. emo-tronic."
(i already talked about this band, see below, and i might copyright the name of my new sub-sub-genre so back off)
"spectacular, just absolutely spectacular. no major label letdown, just more of the same beautiful songcrafting."
that is all for now, or at least until i can buy more music.
later...
9.20.2005
the numbers don't lie...
statistics ::
hailing from Omaha and the scene that has produced so much incredible music recently, Denver Dalley is one hell of a one man band. the guitarist and co-songwriter of the much-lauded band Desaparecidos, and oft-overshadowed by the wine drinking, Wynona Rider dating frontman, Conor Oberst, Denver has begun to cast his own shadows as the impoetus behind statistics. he plays all instruments (with a little help from some friends on a few tracks) and writes all songs, and does both of these very well. the music is straight-foward rock with some electro-pop influences and nostalgic guitar work that starts as a one would think a singer-songwriter would start an album, soft strumming and picked guitar with soft vocals ... then in comes the drums and the bass and the rock. dynamically varied and musically delicious, i love this stuff. this is what i have come to expect from middle america, from the early-90's through to today, solid and refreshing music that consistently helps to define the genre. get these songs and then turn up the volume and bask in the glow of all that is good in music:
- final broadcast
- reminisce
- another day
(*buy* the new album often lie from Jade Tree Records)
check out some other tunes from Jade Tree Records:
the loved ones - the loved ones
strike anywhere - chorus of one
despitado - burning house
breather resist - a social worker's nightmare
onelinedrawing - we had a deal
jets to brazil - resistance is futile
the promise ring - why did we ever meet
9.16.2005
these are crazy, crazy nights... oh yeah...
so sorry to have been gone so long .... there has been a major family emergency, a brother with bruises on his brain, and house contracts falling through, work, commute, no laptop, etc....
i don't like excuses but those are my reasons for being absent.
i have my laptop back, and i almost have it back to where it was before it decided to go on vacation. this will make it much easier for me to post.
i have music to talk about, and poker, and college football (the Dawgs are 2-0, although i don't feel as good about that as i should) and other things, which will also make it easier to write.
however, this will all be started next week as it is my 1 year wedding anniversay this weekend and i will be otherwise occupied.
so please keep coming back as i get back on track/into the swing of things/on top of things, and other assorted cliches about getting knocked down and fighting back up (can i escape this post without using another cliche...)...., ....; ....: .... . .
double points if you can name the artist and song referenced in the title of this post
(negative double points if you have to use a search engine to get the answer).
answer to follow...
9.09.2005
hurricane relief gambling...
the guys over at wicked chops poker are hosting a NLH tourney with raised funds to go toward the Katrina relief efforts. this is a great opportunity to play some un-free poker (my favorite)and contribute to a good cause.
here are the details:
When: Sunday, September 25th at 12pm.
Where: Copeland's of New Orleans Restaurant at Tower Place in Buckhead
What: No Limit Texas Hold'em tournament
Entry: $100 - Proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity’s "Operation Home Delivery"
Prizes: Will be announced early next week.
Register: Email your name and phone number to contact@wickedchopspoker.com
there are only 60 spots available, so sign up now!!
plus .... i will be a dealer at this shindig, so feel free to come and hurl insults at me while i desperately try to do math in my head figuring out split pots (you only get to insult me if you have paid the fee and are playing, no showing up just for heckling purposes).
9.02.2005
changing gears? entire mindsets and strategy...
forget about just changing gears during a sit'n'go or a tournament, i have discovered that changing mindsets and strategies for each separate game that i play is even more crucial and possibly more difficult and costly.
if you read this blog, then you know i work for a non-profit and if you know what that means then you also know that i don't make a lot of money. i also live in atlanta where there are no casinos and buying into games is technically illegal.
put all of this together and it means that i play a lot of free poker, only cash games if and when i can afford them( i know, if i were good enough i would be able to continually stake myself with cash game winnings, but the cards just don't fall like that sometimes).
however, even free poker is not just free poker, there is internet play and live tournament play....here i will discuss the 3 mindsets and the trouble that exists when i am living in all 3 of them at the same time.
internet free poker: i have started playing on espn.com at their single table tournament site which is infinitely preferrable to the come and go melee of the other free sites. even in this format though, one encounters the neverending line of "all-in" players who usually go out by the second or third hand. once this has run its course and you have folded even the pocket rockets you were dealt because someone will chase a flush or straight to the river no matter what you bet, my real single-table tourney internet strategy begins: i will limp in and call almost anything before the flop and will chase almost anything else. of course there are exceptions to this rule as there are every other, obvious folds and even more obvious bets can be seen for what they are when a flop comes off. there is still some "reading" of other players involved but when it comes down to it free is free and you can only really start playing real cash-game style poker when you get to heads-up action. following my earlier statement, there are caveats to this also, but fewer. i have had some success with this "style" but am hesitant to improve my game because ... what is the point of becoming a really good free poker player? except maybe trying to win a satellite to get into another satellite to get into an .... ad nauseam, at which point i would probably suck it up and pay $60 to get myself a few rungs up the ladder.
look for me: i play under the name chazbeaner.
live free poker: to the untrained eye and the guys who scoff at the thought of lowering theselves to this point, the style of game play at these events is not the same as it is on the internet. you cannot call everything before the flop and you most definitely cannot chase everything to the river. i'm not sure why the mindset is different, especially since most of the same people that play online play at the local watering holes, but it is. here you have to play super-tight from the get go and when you do come into a hand you have to come in strong and come in with the nuts, or else. there are chasers out there and they will suck out on you sometimes, but when most people playing are there just trying to outlast their buddy at the next table for bragging rights, they will fold and give you the pot. this is not to say that this is surefire and at live games, there is a lot more reading happening, but if you can pull those people out of the sea of strangers you can take their free poker money. unfortunately for me, i usually get sucked out on by someone who has no friends in the room....or is just a better free poker player than i am. this will segue into the same question i asked in the previous section .... what is the point of becoming a really good free poker player? apart from winning the $50 bar tab at the end of the night, which i guess is some incentive.
live not-free poker: this is what i would play every day if i could. the rush, the adrenaline, the anticipation of pitting yourself against someone else for actual monetary stakes....that's what it is all about. style, reading opponents, everything i put in quotation marks earlier actually counts in this game. i'm still learning to apply and use odds, but i don't have a left brain so math and probability are not my fortes while a hand is running its course. however, i crave the psychological aspect of these live cash games....watching, reading, noting moves, movement, raise strategy, calling strategy, folding strategy... knowing just what it takes and how much of a raise or bet it will take to get someone to lay down their hand. the money winning plays a small part, but the competition and mindset is just addictive for me. i've been told that i have a "tight-aggressive" style, but i'm not sure what that means... i just tend to go a lot on feeling and what my gut instinct is telling me about a hand. sometimes my gut lets me down, but like i said i'm working on tempering that instinct with math. i just love it, every second of it ... unless it is 2am and my alarm is set to go off 5 minutes later, in which case i will forego the 4-way battle to the death and just divvy up the money ... i'm also a realist.
so anyway, i've said all of that to say this: changing mindset and strategy is extremely important to me and has actually helped me prepare for changing gears within a tournament style cash game. however, it can be costly if i don't do it.
take this 4 day stretch for example:
Saturday night: played a single table cash game and won $50 (i know small potatoes, but whatever...it's $50 more than i had when i started). felt good, played relatively well, not any embarassing suck outs on my part to keep myself in the game.
Monday night: sat down at my friend's computer to play a single table espn tourney. started playing immediately like it was a cash game, took me too long to remember to adjust and i went out 4th....i was raising with a decent hand trying to push people out and getting called and sucked out on, also bluffing and then getting called and just straight up beat. started a new table, adjusted my mindset and strategy, and won the table.
Tuesday night: went to play a live free game at a local bar, sat down and started playing free internet poker.... i was calling and chasing and getting my ass beat like a delinquent child. i tightened up and started coming correct, but by that time my stack had dwindled and i ended up all in a little while later with Kh8h and going down hard to pocket Q's. frustrated i paid for my bar tab with my own money and went home.
i play free poker because it is what i can afford, but give me a cash game and one mindset to live with anyday.
espn.com has part I of a Phil Gordon column about mastering the fundamentals of poker: position and dominated hands. good read and a great reminder that poker is not always trickeration and check-raises.
and since i started writing this post they have put up a Steve Rosenbloom article about cracking aces, changing table strategy, and tournaments with quick blind levels.
you see, the changing table strategy part is in there, i should definitely be writing for ESPN.
don't even wonder....there is still no word on the laptop i may or may not have once owned....yarr.
9.01.2005
it's times like these...
i just sat and watched the images of the hurricane aftermath last night in shock.... what can you even say. the pleading phone calls from nurses in dire need of help all the way down to the pictures of dogs sitting on rooftops waiting for someone to come and get them. the lawlessness and desperation were something out of an apocalyptic movie, gangs have raided gun shops and are terrorizing those that survived with ak-47's, even hampering search and rescue and evacuation missions. what in the hell is happening...?
it also seems that the majority of the newscasts have focused on the major city of New Orleans. however, in my humble opinion, based on the little information available and the images that i have seen, Mississippi might have suffered the most devastating loss. more than the majority of the state's income is generated by the casinos lining the coast that antiquated laws dictated be built on floating barges. of course, if they are floating and the water that they are floating on raises, so do the buildings... and when the water moves inland, so also do the structures. this is why the casinos that were forced to float are now located where they should have originally been, on land....actually across the coastal road and on top of apartment complexes and other assorted unfortunate buildings.
i have never been to Biloxi, Tunica, or even New Orleans but i know someone who has...
snake over at Wicked Chops Poker has written an excellent post about the hurricane and its effect on the gaming industry along the gulf coast....and the memories he has of the trips made and, if i know him, the money made in those poker rooms. go there and read and then take his advice and see if there is something you can do.
i guess you just couldn't ever imagine that the memories you have of a place might actually outlast the place itself.
i will be at the 2006 Whiskey Fest on sunday at park tavern in atlanta, watching some cover bands (which for some odd reason i have a soft spot for, especially 80's cover bands...in fact, i saw a band called member's only in Athens about 4 years ago, anybody know if they still exist?) and drinking some delicious nectar.
more importantly, the event has now become a relief fund raising effort for the hurricane victims. there are many events like this that will be going on this weekend and for the next several weeks, and i encourage you to get out or pick up a phone or click on a link and help out in any way that you can.
by the way, still no laptop....awesome.
8.29.2005
still no laptop and it's been 2 weeks...
needless to say, i'm frustrated.
so my brother told me to check out Hail Social after he caught them opening up for Rainer Maria and i'm glad that he did. i really like what i have heard from these guys so far. it is very much along the lines of a lot of indie rock that is coming out nowadays sort of an updated garage sound, but this is done well and has a little more emphasis on the rock part of that description... and its a little less choppy and more smoothed out than most stuff than you will hear in this genre. vocals can be key to me for a band, and these vocals are dynamic and strong, the sound is carried by sustained and melodic underlying guitar lines. i also like to hear the bass and drums working together as they should as the percussive segment of the band, instead of the bass mimicing the harmony line or the vocals. this is just and all-around great sound and very attractive to my ear. also the graphics are sweet (said like Kip)...i mean, come on, it's a skull with an old-school skater-wave haircut....that's just cool. anyway, as always i will let you make up your own mind...here are some songs:
- start/stop
- get in the car
- and as always you can *stream* music at their myspace page.
and just in case you don't know who Rainer Maria is, here are some of their tracks:
- the double life
- ears ring
- artificial light
i know that my posting frequency has to be higher to keep people interested but without a computer it is just a pain in the ass to get it done, so if you are still reading i appreciate it greatly.
i have a lot to write about and i am storing posts in my head for when the laptop comes back...
you see, college football starts this weekend and i haven't even written one word about the upcoming season... and apparently the popular pick amongst sports writers is a first week upset of Boise State over Georgia .... what!! are you kidding me, they might be good on their smurf turf but between the hedges? no way... there will be more to come on this, but possibly not before this game actually takes place so i may be eating my words before they have even come out of my mouth.... but i highly doubt it, very highly, higher than highly, "Hi, Lee!", "are you high, Leigh?".
god i hope the geek squad gives me back my laptop soon...
8.23.2005
a quick fix...
here are some new/old mp3s for your perusal, as you'll remember the original format of this blog...
new::
Breather (shoegazer-ish, noise pop...again a discovery courtesy of mystery&misery)
- all fall away
- stay in love
- cleopatras dream
- drawn
- stars (live)
- all fall away (migraine mix)
John Vanderslice (new album pixel revolt available for pre-ordering thru Barsuk)
- exodus damage
- trance manual
old::
The Get Up Kids (R.I.P... god rest their souls) tguk just broke up and played their last show on 7/2/05 in KC...although i wasn't a huge fan of their newest efforts, i lived, ate , and breathed their first few releases... and the news of the end of their 10-year run gave me a little bit of a lump in my throat, kind of like one of the final nails in the coffin of the mid to late-90s emo/indie scene that gave birth to me. they have realeased a live album which is now available in stores and, if it does truly capture their live performance energy and features some old stuff, it should be one hell of a sing-along treat...here is a taste of them live and some older studio greats:
- ten minutes (live)
- woodson
- red letter day
the gloria record ... also now defunct but another band whose members, in one form or another, helped to shape my musical development (this is also a clue pointing toward the revelation, which may also be built up now beyond all expectation).
- tired and uninspired
- ascension dream (ram)
- the immovable motorist (ram)
- cinema air (ram)
8.21.2005
word verification...
so i've been getting "comment spam" on my innocent little blog and apparently the only way to combat this is to use word verification in the comment's section. all this means is that you have to type in the letters that you see before you can comment, something that a spam program cannot do. please don't let this discourage you from commenting as i would love to hear from each and every one of you... although i'm not sure that the level of commenting could get much lower... so keep up the good work and thanks for all of the feedback! ahhh, sarcasm...