ohio, mixing, and a new instrument

so.  i once again have gone multiple weeks without a blog entry, and now have to play catsup.

i finished my work at Eventric and moved back to Ohio the same day.  it was a good time, mutually beneficial and educational like last time.

the drive back to ohio was my easiest yet.  probably should've burned some more cds, but i ended up listening to my old standbys, The Replacements' "Let It Be" and "Tim," and The Clash's "London Calling."  Joey made fun of me once, because by the time i finish up with 6.5 hours of those albums, my voice is hoarse from all the singing.

left my bed in chicago, took the record stand.  my life's story.

saw Tommy Johnagin on dec 9.  he put on a good show, his opener did too.  i think her last name was Ashley.  she had a first name for her last name, i know that for sure.  after the show, i took big bro and his wife to see a Bonnie Prince Billy secret show, and proceeded to my roommates' end of the quarter festivities.

day after that, Joey, Zack and I started mixing the first two songs from The King's Jetfighters.  i made a pretty odd mistake with that.  i didn't eat for nearly 24 hours.  i'm one of those people who loses track of all basic needs when i get really involved in a project.  so, when i started mixing at 11 am, i wasn't terribly hungry.  when i finished mixing at 6 pm, i was on the verge of fainting.  healthy, right?  but then we got chipotle and went to a show at the Monster House.  Spooktober, Seascapes, and a couple others. i liked Seascapes best, i'll be keeping an eye out for them.  also saw a group who seemed to be composed entirely of transsexuals, singing songs mostly about the plight of transsexuals.  they were pretty solid too, their bassist was from Spooktober and did some ridiculous bass lines.

since then, i've met with my research advisor, done some data analysis, went to my mother's preschool class' christmas program, watched a ton of the simpsons (half of season 4, all of season 5), chopped wood, shoveled 3 driveways, and slept an average of 10 hours a day.  this large amount of sleep has actually led me to start dreaming again.  i haven't dreamed much for the last couple of years, probably due to the lack of sleep and excess of stress, but these past two weeks of relaxation have led to nightly dreams, ranging from meeting Eminem at a race track to being a sailor in the 17th century.

Zack recorded his vocals for The King's Jetfighters in his dorm room, and i mixed both of the songs fully.  learned a lot about mixing and mastering this week.  we'll almost certainly be rerecording his vocals, but it was good practice.  it's sounding great though (from a completely unbiased perspective, as the band's producer and Alien Orders bandmate), and i'm very optimistic about recording an Alien Orders EP on our own.

i'm now living at my parents' house.  i thought that when i left last summer, i'd never be back, but i haven't been able to make contact with my subletter to talk to him about when he's moving out of my room.  so, without a place to stay, i've been living with my parents.  livin the dream... on the plus side, i've had a place where i can practice trumpet and guitar loudly without neighbors hearing.  i'm starting to pick up trumpet, slowly but surely.  wrote my first song with trumpet in it yesterday.

by now, i'm tired of writing and you're tired of reading/skimming disinterestedly.  so i'll end with a video:

this video is from The Replacements' appearance on SNL.  they were banned from the show after getting massively drunk, switching clothes between bandmates between their performances, yelling "fuck" on national television, and joining forces with Harry Dean Stanton to trash their SNL dressing room so thoroughly that their brand new major label (Sire Records) reportedly had to pay for repairs upwards of $2,000.  not bad for an hour-and-a-half-long show.

Flamenco Sketches

ok, i thought about posting Flamenco Sketches by Miles Davis here (because i'm posting SKETCHES from the last two weeks [get the wordplay? {yeah!}]), but i decided that it was far too slow for me to put here.  so here's another Miles Davis tune for your listening enjoyment while you disinterestedly skim over this post.






i'm not going to even try to remember every day since my last post.  so here is a bullet point summary of things that stood out over the course of the last 20 days  (edit:  i decided that i don't feel like making bullet points, so i opted for short, disjointed paragraphs):

my aunt died, one of my favorite family members.  we'd been preparing for it since april, but we still weren't ready.  a few days after her funeral, one of my cousins had a baby and named it Abigail Jayne, after Aunt Jayne.

been on a songwriting spree lately.  written around 7 full sets of lyrics in the past two weeks, probably as many melodies.  only one full song has come out of it so far, but since it involves comparing a person to a time machine, i'm ok with that low writing-to-completion ratio.  some of the songs that have been tabled for now include a surf/jazz/reggae monstrosity and a flamenco-sounding, overly-dramatic, should-be-used-in-a-bullfight-scene song.

i got my guitar speaker cabinet back from being repaired.  this whole thing has been like some weird greek tragedy.  in late july, i found this amp and cabinet in a guitar center for $200 less than it should have been.  a week later, the amp started acting up and needed repaired.  then the speaker cabinet started acting up and needed repaired.  long story short, i finally had both my amp and cab fully repaired on sunday, november 28.  at which time, i had to leave all my electric guitar equipment in ohio so i can move the rest of my earthly possessions in a single mazda protege

ok, i googled "mazda protege matchbox," hoping to find a toy car version of my car.  this image showed up five pages into the results, and i felt obligated to post it.  this is ty cobb, one of the meanest guys to ever wield a bat, and the list of dangerous bat-wielders includes mafia members and loan sharks.  notorious for sharpening his spikes to inflict maximum damage, he once bunted down the first base line, knocked the pitcher down while he was trying to field the ball, and spiked him in the chest.  then he made it to first base.

anyway, my mazda is a small car and i couldn't fit all my material possessions in it when i move back from chicago, so i left my electric guitar equipment in ohio.  which means, after waiting for 4 months to use the amp and cab that i bought and love so dearly, i have to wait another two weeks to play gloriously loud music, despite the fact that they're both finally repaired.  just like oedipus, right?

i experienced the first of the chicago winter.  instead of starting off with snow for its first wintry precipitation, the chicago weather gods decided to rain tiny pellets of jagged ice on the unsuspecting populace.  as you may suspect, this put a damper on my lunch break to Sultan's.  i want to take this time to comment that Sultan's has the most delicious falafel sandwich i have ever encountered, and if you are ever in or near chicago, you need to eat there.  plus it's like 4 bucks for a falafel sandwich.  i thought about it yesterday, and i think i have eaten there at least once a week since august 30.

i've been on a sci fi movie binge.  not just any kind of sci fi movies, though.  only ones i haven't seen before.  last night i saw a polish/japanese film called Avalon, about an illegal, addictive video game that takes hold of the populace.  pretty good, as far as low-budget sci fi romps go.  i think i've seen 10 sci fi movies in the last two weeks.  i also saw The Shawshank Redemption for the first time, i highly recommend it as a prison film.  however, Cool Hand Luke is still my favorite when it comes to the prison film genre.






i have established a rapport with a cta bus driver.  he's a cool guy.  i should probably ask his name sometime soon.  maybe we can be pen pals.

had thanksgiving at Grandma Bradney's house in Amanda and at Aunt Susie's house in Marietta.  good times.  lots of food.  i can still taste grandma's egg noodles.

today's my last day at JMA.  still working at Eventric through dec 8.  i had a confrontation with my boss at JMA over ethics, and won out in the end.  i guess either way my boss would've lost out, i probably would've quit if he gave me an ultimatum.  he wanted me to do research for a paper that his daughter was supposed to write.  he really does love his daughters, and i guess that i can accept that as the root of asking me to commit academic misconduct, but it still bothers me that he asked.

going to see Tommy Johnagin on dec 9.  excited about it.  he's a great comic, all three of you reading this should check him out.

music.  lots of musical happenings.  listened to Kanye's new album (wasn't terribly impressed), The Clash's Vanilla Tapes (demos for London Calling), a little of Florence + The Machine (i need to get their full album, really digging their first two singles), tons of The Replacements, tons of The Thermals.  the big revelation has been in Joe Strummer's London Calling, a BBC radio show he did sporadically through 1999 and 2000.  it's what i imagine radio used to be.  completely unpredictable, smile-inducing, and full of foot-tapping tunes.  lots of world music, but that shouldn't turn you off.  it's all good, from mariachi to reggae to Eddie Cochran.  and it's free:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/joe-strummer-london-calling/id285877923

i read American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson.  he is actually a very good writer, i enjoyed it very much.  he's a favorite comedian of mine, and has led a very full life of drugs, rock and roll, tv, film, and late night talk shows.  i loved this one quote from his book, it goes like this:  'i sometimes wonder if fear isn't just God's way of saying, "pay attention, this could be fun"'

i think i've written a sufficient wall of text to describe the past few weeks.  i'll be moving back to ohio on dec 8, moving into my house in columbus on jan 1.