30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 7

Day 07 – A song that reminds you of a certain event

Wow.

This one is difficult. So many events in my life have a soundtrack to them (hearing can invoke a sense memory, no?) and to isolate one is really difficult.

Do I go with something wonderful, that ended up being tragic, totally changing the terms under which the memory was created? Do I choose something that is fairly banal but has a strong connection? Do I go with a sad event or with something great?

I have been thinking about this for a little bit and I still cannot come up with one.

Edit: So, I started writing this about 45 minutes ago (~11:48 am EDT) and I am still trying figure it out.

So...I am going to go with this one, and I am not going to describe the event...but...it does remind me of a very certain event.

April Fool's...G-Mail Motion

See, another well done April Fool's Day prank, and Google has had a number of these. Believable enough to be real, and topical, but just...off enough that you know that it is fake.

See more at G-Mail Motion

Edit: And they let you in on fact that it is a prank...

Disappointing.

April Fool's...

Some of these pranks are stupid.

Some of these are well done.



However, I rarely laugh as hard as I did when I saw #4 on YouTube's list of the top viral videos of 1911.

30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 6

Day 06 – A song that reminds you of somewhere



An old friend, Angelo, introduced me to this song when Erik and I had a radio show on WRUC in 1995 (they were signed to a local label, EVR) but I did not really listen to it until the fall of 1999 when I found a copy of one of our radio shows and this song was on it.

Whenever I hear it, I am brought back to driving down State Street in Albany (upper State, by the park) on a rainy morning with the wonderful autumn leaves still on the tree but on the ground as well. It was fall, I was happy, and this song "spoke" me about...well...not to be too sentimental about it but...young yet thwarted love that everyone feels, even those of us who are old enough to know better.

And Meaghan Ball's voice is still amazing.

A couple of years ago, I went to the internets to find out what had happened to Meaghan Ball (and yes, I was a Texas is the Reason fan because of Copper) and I discovered another band that I love. Holy Roman Empire.

If it wasn't for that rainy weekday morning, on State Street, I do not know what my musical tastes would look like today.

For a great write-up on this song, please go to this post at My Ghetto.

Comfort Foods

I am a big fan of comfort foods, especially when they are done "right", and I love bar food. When they come together, it can be magic. (And I just heard a monotone version of Queen in my head, awesome.)

When I last saw Lux, he reminded me of how much I love Deviled Eggs, because, for me at least, they were a food that reminded me of holidays at my Nana's house. Creamy, spicy and always running out. They are a great food memory.

This afternoon, I met up with a friend for a late lunch, couple of beers at Brown's Brewing Company, and because I had, once again, forgotten to eat, so I looked at the appetizer menu and saw...

Deviled Eggs.

I had never noticed them on the menu before and that was probably because I was not looking.

Pairing them with Beer Pretzels and their wonderfully hoppy IPA made for an excellent light meal and it brought back a bunch of good memories.

This later came up when Elizabeth asked her readers what their favorite comfort foods were and I had to put it out there...

Deviled Eggs.

What are yours?

My Top 25 Songs of the 2011...so far

1. See America Right - The Mountain Goats
2. Southwood Plantation Road - The Mountain Goats
3. Jump In the River - Sinéad O'Connor
4. Ready To Start - Arcade Fire
5. Modern Man - Arcade Fire
6. Chicago Promenade - Jason Isbell
7. Crosses - Jose González
8. Big & Tall - Lifter
9. Thirteen - Big Star
10. Overkill - Colin Hay
11. Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap
12. Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect - The Decemberists
13. Down By The Water - The Decemberists
14. Paper And Glue - Emma Pollock
15. Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) - John Lennon
16. Suedehead - Morrissey
17. No One Sleeps When I'm Awake - The Sounds
18. Everything She Wants - Wham!
19. Freckle - Copper
20. This Is Why We Fight - The Decemberists
21. Lucifer's Jigsaw - Jaydiohead
22. Mr. Brightside - The Killers
23. New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down - LCD Soundsystem
24. Tallahassee - The Mountain Goats
25. Game Shows Touch Our Lives - The Mountain Goats

Well, what does this show, apart from that I am listening the crap out of Tallahassee? Who is missing? What band am I obsessed about who is conspicuous by their absence?

By the way, watch the video for #25. The monologue before the song is awesome.

"People say friends don't destroy each other...what do they know about friends?"

Subconscious desires for the win

I was walking down a beach in Mexico with X. How do I know it was Mexico? You'll find out later. But, it wasn't Mexico, it was the Malibu beach that is featured so often in film and television. I did not realize it at the time. To me it was just Mexico.

Anyway, X and I were walking down the beach and we were approached by the Federales who started questioning us about what we were doing on the beach as well as in Mexico. I replied in flawless Spanish that we were here on business and a vacation and we were to be returning to the States that afternoon. They then started asking X the same questions but she could not speak Spanish, and she started getting defensive with the authorities.

Guns were drawn, voices were raised, and the Federales pleaded with me to explain to my companion that if she did not calm down, they were going to be forced to shoot her.

I looked at them, looked at her, and thought about the situation and said:

"Shoot her."

Then I woke up.

For the first time, I think my mind is telling me something without any nuance.

30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 5

Day 05 – A song that reminds you of someone

I have two, and I am not going to say who they are about.





Edit: The first one is obvious and the second one was quickly figured out. Thank you for playing along.

Sleeping, Dreaming, and Reading

(Not necessarily in that order)

Back to back nights of zombie dreams. Not necessarily bad zombie dreams, but there were still the various things associated with a zombie attack; gore, viscera, terror, and the collapse of society.

I have had a reoccurring "character" in my zombie dreams for months, sometimes she is a minor character and sometimes she takes a more major role. She is a brunette who is cute and while she reminds me of someone I used to know from the "old" Lionheart, she is not someone from my real life. She did have a major place in the zombie dreams of the past couple of nights. She does have a name as well. Her name is Rachel and she was a systems engineer in a previous life. She is also a vegetarian, Jewish, and she grew up outside of Chicago. She had been part of our "merry little band" (used with full irony) since the beginning and she was more than competent with a firearm. Something about her father being a sharpshooter (in the backstory that had been developed in my mind) was the reason for her proficiency.

This series of dreams involved us being holed up in an apartment building (upscale, and well appointed) waiting for a series of zombie armies to march past. It was tense, but we all knew that we were safe and in a well defended situation. Therefore, the dreams was a bunch of us sitting around and talking.

Anyway, Rachel and I were talking and she was asking about my life before and I couldn't remember anything, and then I said that I was just a "fat, bald geek with too many strong opinions" and I did not have many people close to me.

She laughed and then said that I had to be delusional because I was not fat and I certainly was not bald. She then walked me over to a mirror and I had a full head of great hair. Hair that I haven't had since I was nineteen, and I looked good. For what seemed like an hour of dream time, I looked at my hair.

It was amazing, and I woke up with a smile on my face.

This brings me to an experiment that I have been running. As I have documented, I have serious sleep issues, and they have been worse as of late. For the longest time, I have needed talk radio (when there wasn't a warm body next to me, and that hasn't happened for a while) to help me fall asleep. Generally, NPR but I have also used podcasts. Rachel Maddow's voice is a wonderful way to help me sleep, but there have been others, including the Slate series of podcasts. Here is one of the issues though, I cannot fall asleep to the Political Gabfest nor can I fall asleep to Hang Up and Listen, but the Culture Gabfest will put me to sleep within minutes.

This brings me to the experiment.

A couple of weeks ago, Stephen Metcalf (of the aforementioned Culture Gabfest) wrote a wonderful piece for New York documenting how his therapists had a tendency to fall asleep during his sessions. I had noticed that falling asleep to Metcalf (who is a delight in person, and is becoming a huge pimp for the things that are great about Upstate NY) was easier than with others. So, I loaded up my iPod with old podcasts and tried something. Every night I used the Culture Gabfest, I was asleep quickly, and every time I tried something else, I was tossing, turning, and giving in to my own neurosis.

I know that this is not exactly the scientific method, but...could it be that Metcalf's sonorous voice is the reason that his therapists fell asleep, because that is the conclusion that I am drawing for myself.

(This is not to say that the Culture Gabfest isn't one of the best podcasts available as well as a very interesting listen. If you have not checked it out, you really should.)

It has been suggested by one of my health professionals that I ween myself off of needing background noise, and that I engage in other behaviors in order to help, but...for the time being, when I really need to sleep, I am going to take me some Metcalf.

(Oh, and the reading referenced in the title was the NYMag article. You should read it if you haven't.)

30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 4

Day 04 – A song that makes you sad

Funnily enough, it is also one of my favorite songs, even though I find it "sad". It is apt though, and a great way to describe most relationships.



Divorce Song - Liz Phair

What now?!?

"I have two grandchildren -- Maggie is 11, Robert is 9," Gingrich said at a church in Texas, according to Politico. "I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American."

How can it be both a secular nation and an Islamist nation at the same time?  This guy is a historian, right?  He was third in line for PotUS right?

It makes me happy to think that he may be the GOP nominee next year.

Via TPM

Edit at 6:08: Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler e-mailed Salon to clarify that Newt was warning either atheists OR Islamists could take over America, not that the two will join forces. "'Or' should have come before the word 'potentially,'" Tyler wrote.

The Funky Drummer

That is because he was the featured player on "Funky Drummer," a 1970 single by James Brown whose 20-second drum solo has become, by most counts, the most sampled of all beats. It has been used hundreds of times, becoming part of the DNA of hip-hop, and in the late 1980s and early '90s it was the go-to sample for anyone looking to borrow some of hip-hop's sass (hence Kenny G.).

Yet Mr. Stubblefield's name almost fell through the cracks of history. The early rappers almost never gave credit or paid for the sample, and if they did, acknowledgement (and any royalties) went to Brown, who is listed as the songwriter.

Via the NY Times

And I think that MC Frontalot singing "Good Old Clyde" should be thanks enough, right?

One More Try

This is amazing and I am embarrassed that I haven't seen this before.


Iron And Wine covers George Michael

I love this song, I love George Michael and I love Iron and Wine. This is...perfect.

Via The Onion AV Club While you are there, check out the other songs that are going to be covered and the ones that have been covered already.

Look at that laughing jackass

It had to have been something funny

Over the past week, I have had some good pictures taken of myself, and then some not so good ones. I look huge in this one.

But...@jonathanrnash looks good.

You can see more photos here.

30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 3

Day 03 – A song that makes you happy

Zero 7 - Throw It All Away





Yes, there are two videos for this song...

It also has my favorite romantic line in any song ever.

"Side One, Track Two, on a record of you, a needle stuck in a groove that I don't want to move"

(Is there any better sign of desperate obsession than that? (and in the non-stalky way))

Plus...Sia on vocals.

This song always makes me happy, and it gives me hope.

This is more than disappointing

Anheuser-Busch is set to buy Goose Island for a cool $38.8 million, according to the Tribune. For those of us familiar with the beer industry, the news doesn't come as a shock. A-B (through Widmer Brothers brewing Co.) has had a 40 percent stake in the company since 2006. That deal opened the doors for Goose Island to increase its sales by reaching more accounts via A-B's national distribution network.

Via Chicagoist

I like Goose Island, a lot, and have sent people that were going to Chicago to their brewpubs and then to the brewery itself.

Ashley and I were drinking Goose Island at the AOA birthday party.  When I see it, I drink it.

Now that it is a Bud beer, how is it going to change?

Something Old, Something New, Always Classic

My mother's father was a dapper man. In this case were are defining dapper as "neat, trim; stylishly dressed, neatly dressed; spiffy". A lot of what I think about men's fashion derived from the way he dressed. Now I am neither as neat nor as fastidious about clothing as he was, but I am also of a different era. My grandfather went bald early and one of the reasons I am proud and happy to crop my hair so often was because he had. If he had no reason to "be ashamed" by what was natural, why should I?

That being the case, I always remembered my grandfather's bow ties. Now, over the years, I have been known to wear one, but never as well or as consistently as he did. When my grandfather passed, I wore one of his ties to his funeral, as an homage to him, and the only thing I asked for to remember him by were his bow ties.

I went through the bag of them yesterday and I was amazed by them. With the exception of three, they were all Brooks Brothers (the others being Cohoes Manufacturing back when Cohoes was known for something other than unwed mothers and high STD rates), and they spanned forty years of men's fashion.

Some of these have not aged well, but others are still current and amazingly so. Looking at them, I see the patterns that I wore as recently as last week.

I do realize that I need to lose twenty pounds to wear them regularly, but I love the idea of wearing them, as a statement of my love for my grandfather, as well as a statement about men's fashion.

Would you see a bow tie as an affectation or something novel if you saw me, or anyone else, wearing one?

Concentrating the personal brand

(Or more wanking...)

As many of you are well aware of, I use AFM as a clearing house, and also as a test bed. I have used it in the past to see what drives traffic, especially in the Albany area, and what people find interesting (parsing demo info is always fun, especially with the variety of tools that are available out there) so that I am better informed about what is...zeitgeistie...I guess.

I have been interested in app creation for a while and playing with the idea of creating my own, but...I am really bad a coding. Really bad. Scripting, I am okay at that, but I am not a developer and I never will be one. It is beyond my scope and I accept that.

So, I was looking for ways to create an app for AFM (which I admit is wanking of the highest caliber) and last week, while I was trying to figure out the easiest way to do it, I came across AppMakr.

What AppMakr does with very little effort is helps with a simple web interface app for the iOS platform.

There is also a wonderful app simulator so you can see what your app will look like before you submit it to Apple. (Oh, and you have to sign up as an Apple Developer as well and I believe the least expensive option for that is $99.)

Here is what my app would look like:

Not bad looking, right?

So...before I go forward with this, I would like to ask people to tell me if they have any app development experience and more to the point, are there better WYSIWYG app creators out there?

And...would you install this free app?

30 Songs in 30 Days - Day 2

Day 2 - Your Least Favorite Song

(Or, as I am interpreting it, the songs that you would expect to here playing in Hell over the intercom while you slave away at spreadsheets from a 1993 version of Claris Works.)

It may be Tom Cruise, it may be the ubiquity of it on commercial radio (today on classic rock, everywhere when I was younger) and this may make me UnAmerican, but I HATE "Old Time Rock & Roll".



Ugh. It made me sick to my stomach just to post it.

30 Songs in 30 Days -Day 1

This meme has been making the rounds, and I am now willing to take part in it.

Here is the list of songs and why the selection process is.

Day 01 – Your favorite song
Day 02 – Your least favorite song
Day 03 – A song that makes you happy
Day 04 – A song that makes you sad
Day 05 – A song that reminds you of someone
Day 06 – A song that reminds you of somewhere
Day 07 – A song that reminds you of a certain event
Day 08 – A song that you know all the words to
Day 09 – A song that you can dance to
Day 10 – A song that makes you fall asleep
Day 11 – A song from your favorite band
Day 12 – A song from a band you hate
Day 13 – A song that is a guilty pleasure
Day 14 – A song that no one would expect you to love
Day 15 – A song that describes you
Day 16 – A song that you used to love but now hate
Day 17 – A song that you hear often on the radio
Day 18 – A song that you wish you heard on the radio
Day 19 – A song from your favorite album
Day 20 – A song that you listen to when you’re angry
Day 21 – A song that you listen to when you’re happy
Day 22 – A song that you listen to when you’re sad
Day 23 – A song that you want to play at your wedding
Day 24 – A song that you want to play at your funeral
Day 25 – A song that makes you laugh
Day 26 – A song that you can play on an instrument
Day 27 – A song that you wish you could play
Day 28 – A song that makes you feel guilty
Day 29 – A song from your childhood
Day 30 – Your favorite song at this time last year



My first selection: This Modern Love by Bloc Party

Sometimes the simplest gifts are the best

As a gift for being part of Dan and Laura's wedding, the put together a gift bag for me, and this gift bag was the most amazing thing ever.

Beers and Books!

The Beers:
(Left to right)
Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale (NH)
Heavy Seas Small Craft Warning Uber Pils (MD)
Erie Brewing's Railbender Ale (PA)
Framboise Lambic (Belgium)
Ommegang's Three Philosophers (NY)
Erie Brewing's Mad Anthony's American Pale Ale (PA)
Dogfish Head's Aprihop (DE)

The Books:
Zombie, Ohio
Charles Bukowski's Women

Why are these so amazing? Think about it for a minute...if you know me, this is a great weekend. Plus, Bukowski! I love Bukowski (and I have Erik to thank for that).

But...

Beer and books. Craft beer and books is what I am all about and that with the exception of the Lambic, all the beers are made relatively locally and that makes me happy.

Local craft beer, good books, and that people to the time to understand what I love about life.

Amazing! Thank you, Dan & Laura.

I won a contest so why not a contest...

Last week, All Over Albany celebrated their third birthday (it was a good week for birthdays) and had a series of drawings. I happened to win on of them.

The prize...drum roll please...

$100 Gift Certificate to the New World Bistro Bar.

So, here is what I am thinking...this is the perfect no pressure date. No one has to worry about the picking up the tab, because the tab is already being taken care of, and it has great food, wonderful beer, and the ambiance is spectacular.

So...win a dinner date with...me.

The problem with this, is how do I select the winner (or loser, come on, let's be honest here, I am fat, bald, boring and incredibly douchey)?

What metric do I use?

More to the point, how to apply?

I am looking for help here, and hopefully, you will be able to provide the questions to be asked and the metric for deciding the winner.

My weekend, in a nutshell

There was (at the beginning) a much longer post that got into far too many details about my weekend, but...it because too long (2900 words or thereabouts) and it displayed far too much of my crazy, for both good and bad, and I decided to share that with the relevant actors in that story but...

Friday:

Dan and Laura's rehearsal for their wedding. It was great, it was fun, and it made me happier about the institution of marriage.

Then...

The big secret. Shauna's surprise birthday party at Brown's.

It was a surprise and Shauna was shocked. Everyone involved did well.

Shauna and two of her best friends from High School

And on Saturday, there was Laura and Dan's wedding.

It was amazing. There were tears of joy, happiness, and laughter, especially when Laura "Rick Rolled" not just the groom, but everyone at the wedding. It was, by far, the most fun ceremony I have ever witnessed.

They make a beautiful couple.

There you have it!

The Radiohead Support Group

The sad thing is, I thing this in all likelihood exists somewhere.



H/T to Lux.