Ain't That America

I LOVE ST. LOUIS!

Higher Ground

Back into the blogging world once again (at least as a contributor) and it feels great. Music is still going great. We had two gigs yesterday. The first one probably one of my favorites. It was in an awesome, and rare, round barn in Northeastern Missouri. We opened the festival (must pay your dues) and it was well worth it. We played some great tunes and rocked the house. Did a couple of interviews from the local news station, autographed a guitar with proceeds going to the United Way, and received several inquiries regarding us playing for some other people. Definitely not the reaction we were expecting going in to this. When your opening a HARDCORE blues festival and your set consists of sublime, queen, and jet, it is easy to get a little worried. But we threw in a couple John Mayer Trio tunes that seemed to restore the balance.

To close the night we played at a Swingers Party (not those Swingers, although probably more interesting). It was one of the coolest things. We were supposed to be the entertainment for the evening. But instead, the crowd was engulfed in this swinging frenzy that really kept the energy up for us since most of us were running on fumes. Such a good day.

Now it's simply time for football, some food, and possibly some homework.

Totally random...but in business news, how fucked up is it that Lehman Brothers decided to withdraw $8 billion from their branch company in London and then declare bankruptcy the very next day, liquidating that money however they see fit. Especially considering the fact that the money was earmarked for salaries of English workers. Not cool New York branch, not cool.

I love being able to press the NEW POST button. It's usually an exciting moment when I get to unload a small portion of the thoughts circling around my, as some might consider, strange mind. I am slacking on these posts recently and I'd like to say that was due to some intense scholarly activities. However, that is not typically the case. Instead, I have been doing anything I can but schoolwork. We had a gig last night opening for a great blues band. Not really our style, but the "lovely ladies" (as dave would say) and alcohol definitely livened up the place. I got a little carried away prior to the show with even more mind-altering events which definitely shaped how I acted as the involuntary front-man of the group. I had a blast though but ended up having to take a bunch of equipment and a drunk lead guitarist home. Even still, joining us on our trip was the more than $200 we made for playing for 45minutes. By no means am I bragging. I am very much the novice with this music biz stuff but that is roughly $275/hour. Not too shabby for a bunch of half-drunk (except for Aaron of course) college kids pretending to be rock stars.

Aside from music taking over, the other love of my life has returned. No, not Rosie O'Donnell. But rather the NFL. I watched nearly nine hours of football. That is BULLSHIT. I am a bum. Actually scratch that. I determined on my rainy, short-lived return trip from the library that even though I am entering my final year of school. I haven't proven anything except that I am in fact, not a bum. But sometimes oh how I wish I could be. Perhaps I could simply join Jules and simply "walk the earth." Pulp Fiction = Great Movie!

For any of you that might be reading this, whether by accident or even on purpose I need help on finding some new songs for our new female vocalist, Jen, to sing. She has a phenomenal voice and can sing most anything. We have simply dried up the apparently, shallow well to finding good songs for her to sing. We're looking for more stuff on the female front, or even, something for both of us, since I've been deemed co-singing rockstar. We've been looking at the Hush Sound, No Doubt, Pink and a few others. But my question is this.

What songs do you like to hear, especially when you're out? Let's go top three! Shit! Only a few minutes from another Monday. Wish me luck and I'll return the favor. Peace!

I Can't Think of a Title

Damn, it has been awhile! I thought this blog would be lost forever. Internet here in this wonderful hick town is hit or miss and the cable/internet company monopolizes the area so my roommates and I are kind of screwed.

Classes have already started and I am pretty much the most worthless student right now. I blame it on music, cardinals baseball, and senioritis.

Oh I also found out that one of my roommates is quite the salesman. Let's just say that I've gotten to meet some "interesting" people, all of which are usually here for no more than 3 minutes at a time. My fondest memory of his business had to be when I met THE NEIGHBORS. These guys, of which I had not previously known, simply walk in our house and ask me if I had any product that they desired. Kind of freaked out I knew to ask John if he knew who these shady characters were. He had no idea either, but nevertheless, not even two minutes and a few cigarettes later, he was $100 richer. I've probably met at least 15 people like this so far and I'm beginning to get paranoid, considering these people can see the nearly $15,000 of music equipment in our "jam room" for the band. That's actually kind of sad I know. A 21 year old, future financial advisor, has blown enough to pay for his small college (for three semesters) on music equipment.

On that front, I'll probably end up singing for the group. Both of our auditions were terrible. Simon would have cried. I'm in choir now and even convinced the other guitarist and drummer to join so that will be fun. None of us have any choir experience and it's really more of a way for us to scout for a new singer. Creepy? Perhaps, but we are desperate. But nevertheless, the gigs are rolling in and hopefully more will come along. In fact, word on the quad is that we might even be opening for Ben Folds when he comes here in the fall. EXCITING!

Perhaps when I get more time, I'll be able to blog about something interesting. But for now it's lunch and then investments.

Bernese Mountain Dogs

I have had an obsession with this dog ever for about three years now. I was visiting an ex's family down in Ozark, MO. Kind of long distance relationship, not to mention she grew up on a farm. I loved it though. I had been used to the usually (but not always) bitchy West-County girls of St. Louis. If you lived here, I'm sure you'd understand. So a nice chill country girl was great for me. However, I found that our personalities differed too much in order for this thing to really work, so naturally, we ended that.

However, aside from some great memories and life lessons I'm sure I gathered from my relationship with Kayla, the best had to be the Rogersville, MO county fair. I'm a "city-boy" and this was a very alien experience for me. I saw great Skynard cover bands, ate some delicious Ribs and corn fresh off of the grill, and even witnessed county residents compete for the best floating device (that could hold 4 people). Really, it ended up being the device that took the longest to sink. But either way, it was really cool. While sitting beneath the shade of a tall tree just off of the banks of the hoosier-infested river, there was the softest coat that brushed against my back. There standing was the most incredible canine ever. It was love at first sight and immediately I asked the owner at least twenty questions about the Mountain dog. She gladly obliged and now I'm simply waiting to get in a better financial and residential situation in order to pick up one of these precious creatures.
All I need is a house and $1200 and one can be mine. But honestly, I went to my first animal shelter this past weekend with my girlfriend and played with two of the greatest dogs ever, brothers Rocky and Reggie. They have been in this shelter for over six months now and dogs like these make me never want to buy from a breeder. There are thousands of dogs just like this, and I'd be so selfish to make sure that I got my precious Bernese Mountain dog by sacrificing beautiful animals like these. This also strongly ties in with my vies on adoption. I'm pretty sure that adoption will be the road I go down IF I ever decide to go the family route.

Back in K-Ville USA!

Right now I'm jamming to Soul Sacrifice by Santana. Oh it is so sweet. I remember first seeing this performed on a documentary about Woodstock. The drum solo is incredible. Oddly enough it was shown to me by my ex's father. This dude was an incredible/incredibly strange individual. (Always made for interesting moments when "the girl" and I would be spending alone time in the late evenings). It was really the way he communicated with me. He always sounded so condescending at least in his tone, but at the same time was always so excited to discuss the most random things with me. It was like he valued my opinion not because he thought it valid, but something to categorize in his weird chamber of thoughts from "lower lifeforms." He had good taste in music at least.

More importantly (sorry for that obnoxious tangent), I'm back in my college town. I have a huge 4 bedroom house all to my lonesome and it is wonderful. Life has finally slowed down. So far I've just been consuming myself with music. With no one to bother, I am blasting my drums, developing new song creations with my guitar all while constantly listening and watching music for more inspiration. So far so good. I've talked to the area bar owners and have started getting my face out there for potential gigs.

We have some nice owners here. I got hammered last night, and my drummer, Bret, and I probably spent $10 collectively. Apparently, bar owners love to talk business over individual pitchers of delightful exotic beverages like Keystone or, if you're lucky, Coors Light. I know classy, right? But nevertheless, FREE!

Basically my life is where I want it to be at the moment. No TV. Plenty of Music!!! A good book, "Think and Grow Rich". And pirated internet from my neighbor, "Bob", according to his connection ID. Thanks bro!

Oh and a disclaimer on the book. I'm not superficial and money hungry. Far from it! I picked it up because I hear (from at least five of my coworkers) it has some great views on how we can "better" our thoughts, and in turn our attitudes, and hopefully our lives and the lives of those around us. So think of it as growing rich in quality of life, not money. Although that wouldn't bother me if it went down that way too.

What Now Bitch!?!

Please let me preface this entry by noting that I fully respect France as a nation and have no personal feelings against that wonderful nation. But who's talking now bitches?

Apparently these guys talked some serious smack against the US swim team when asked about the 4 X 100 relay. They apparently were going to "smash" the US Olympic team. However, Phelps & Co. brought there stuff about 2 minutes ago and left those motivating words .08 seconds behind them.

Oh what a sweet victory that was! Isn't there something liberating about quieting the big mouth?

If you didn't see the race it really was a good one. The lead had changed at least five or six times between the US and France. You could just feel the tension between the two and both teams had to be right next to each other to make it even better. I feel like the US did have the advantage on the home stretch for two reasons. 1. We are better swimmers (obviously)
2. We also could see our opponent because we had the left side while breathing (and peaking) to our right at the big-mouthed Frenchman swimming to his preconceived gold medal.

That was such an asshole of a blog and please forgive my comments here!

But if you'll excuse me I need to listen to America's National Anthem. Sorry fellas,

No "La Marseillaise" Today!!!