a truth quietly told

"urgh!" - a short story - by layne harvey

2011-06-17T11:56:00.000-05:00

one day (today) i woke up and got ready for work. as i was leaving the house, i realized i forgot to take the trash out, so i went into the garage to put the dogs in the kennel so i could bring the trashcan through from the backyard. apparently, the doggy door cover was put on at some point the day prior (yesterday). i remember closing the back garage door (it was open for some reason - we typically leave it closed) at some point the previous afternoon (yesterday), not realizing the cover was on, i guess. when i went in there on this fine day (today), i noticed a few piles of semi-runny dog crap. i noticed the doggy door cover was on, apologized to the dogs, removed the cover so they could go out, then got some paper towels and 409 and cleaned it up.

while i was cleaning that up, i glanced over and saw a few puddles of whizz a few feet away, so i cleaned those up. then, around the corner of a metal stool/chair painting project, i saw a pile of vomit, so i cleaned that up. i threw the bag of nasty in the trashcan, went inside to put the paper towels and 409 away, washed my hands, then went back out to take the trash to the road.

as i opened the garage door and started taking the trash to the road, i saw some more runny piles of dog crap around the corner between the garage door and some dressers that we have stored in the garage. so i went back in to get the paper towels and 409 and cleaned that up. i threw the bag in the trashcan.

i took the trashcan to the road, then went back up to get some cardboard to set out for the recycling dudes to pick up. as i was walking back up to the garage, i saw another pile of vomit right in the front corner of the garage. because the garage floor is a bit un-level in a few places, some of the putrid liquid from the vomit had separated and oozed behind a mirror that is leaning up against the wall, which is blocked in by several other pieces of furniture. i cleaned up as much of that as i could, then disposed of that in the trashcan by the road.

sweaty and disheveled, i washed my hands, then drove to work, where everything was also crazy and broken.

the end.

calla trying soda for the first time...

2011-05-03T12:38:00.000-05:00

palmetto 200 - team 'yu do then i do' rules!

2011-04-09T23:12:00.003-05:00

wow... where can i start? this weekend, i had the privilege to meet, team up with, and become friends with 10 amazing people as we joined forces to conquer the palmetto 200, a grueling 200 mile race that begins in cayce, sc (outside of columbia) and ends at folly beach, sc. you're thinking things like, 'that's just crazy!' or 'why would anyone want to do that to themselves???' well, i'm going to tell you a tale of 11 people that fought like hell to conquer this crazy race.

most of us met at brent's apartment on folly beach at around 7:00 pm thursday evening. after some idle chit-chat, we began packing up the two vans (one actually being a suburban, but i am calling it van #1 from now on, because that is what it was supposed to be). with superior packing skills, we accomplished our first goal in a few short minutes. my wife, anna, and my two daughters accompanied me to provide moral support and send us off (i love my girls!). after piling in, we waved our goodbyes and hit the road, me, jeanette, michael, and felicia in van #1, and jay, elizabeth, kalan, brent, and nate in van #2 (the sweet minivan with the limo-style interior running lights) - classy!

we hit our first obstacle when jeanette turned down the music a mere 20 minutes into the trip to make the announcement that she was feeling ill. not our team captain! i have known jeanette since middle school, and knew that she must be feeling awful to let this stand in her way. she worked so hard to get this thing going! after van #1 stopped a few times between west ashley and ridgeville, jeanette and felicia made plans for jeanette's brother to come pick her up and take her home. a terrible way to begin! what would we do without our driving force? we notified van #2 of the setback, then pushed onward with me at the wheel.

we arrived at the clarion in columbia at about 11:30 pm or so and got checked in, then all of the team members met in one room to discuss our options. kevin and a few of the others had reworked the race schedule with 10 runners, since it looked like jeanette was out of commission back in charleston. after going over the changes, we all agreed, then went to our respective rooms, said our good nights, and got roughly 4 hours of sleep.

michael, andy, and i were bunkmates this first night, and we awoke the following morning at 4:15 to get quick showers and mentally prepare. we all met at the vans at around 5am to pack up and head to the historic columbia speedway, the starting line for the race. with the runner changes, i moved to van #2 with jay, nate, kevin, and elizabeth. we arrived at the speedway at 5:30 am sharp, and stood around sleepily for a bit before heading to the starting line with michael, our first runner. after some excitement among all of the teams that were starting, the runners (adorned in headlamps and loads of blinky lights) were off, first going around the speedway for one lap, then exiting to the road. the beginning of a journey to remember for a lifetime!

the rest of us all looked at each other blankly for a moment, then van#1 headed off to the first exchange zone, while van #2's occupants headed back to the hotel to get a bit more sleep and/or breakfast. i chose sleep. we headed out a little later that morning to meet van #1 at exchange zone 6, where jay took the bracelet from andy, ending van #1's first set of legs. they did an amazing job. we were running right on schedule, and everyone looked like they were still in good shape. van#1 went off to find rest and food. van #2 began their first set of legs.

jay had a difficult 8 mile run that consisted of a tree-lined highway and what the course map defined as a 'significant uphill at 4.2 miles into leg that lasts for .5 miles'. he was a bit nervous about that, but we assured him it was probably nothing. as we drove the course to find the next exchange zone, we saw said hill, noticed it was indeed significant, and stopped to wait for jay, to refuel him if necessary, and to provide him with some positive mojo. as this was not the first hill he encountered, he was a bit unnerved at the size of this hill, and voiced that sentiment in a plethora of unhappy words. we passed him a gatorade, wished him luck, then headed on to the exchange zone so nate could prepare for his first leg.

jay arrived at the exchange zone looking like he had had enough of that leg, passed the bracelet to nate, then promptly deposited himself in a sunny patch of grass to relax. he only had a few seconds to do that because nate had a cool 1.7 mile leg to start. we scurried to the van after realizing this and rushed to the next exchange zone, where kevin readied himself. nate breezed through that leg, passed the bracelet to kevin, then kevin started his first leg of 5.6 miles. right around this time, we received word from jeanette that she was more than likely making a major comeback and would be meeting our group at one of the exchange zones up the road at about 4pm.

kevin had a few hills to conquer, a neighborhood to run through, and quite a bit of nothing much else to run through. he arrived at the next exchange zone on schedule, where we were awaiting his arrival. elizabeth was next up. as she had become ill the previous night as well, while we all slept, we were worried about her. she assured us she felt ok, and suited up to take on her first leg, a 4.6 mile run that led us into the town of cameron, sc, a quaint town with some neat old houses, and very nice southern folk. despite the sickness from the night before, she defeated that first leg with grace. when she arrived, i was vested up and ready to go.

seeing as how i was the last of the 10 runners to start, i was quite anxious to get the show on the road. all i had eaten that day was a zip-loc bag of dried multi-grain cheerios, a banana, and a clif bar, but i thought, "no biggie, i have run 9.8+ miles a few times before. i got this." what i was not anticipating was how difficult this leg would turn out to be. the course map labelled leg #10 as "hard", but i would say it was "brutal". about 3 miles in, my team was waiting for me to fill me up with water and gatorade. i accepted, told them i was doing good, then went on my way. i snapped a few pics with my cell phone (see links at the end of the post) of things that interested me, mostly so i could remember as much of this race as possible.

after about another two miles of running down the longest, straightest shadeless highway i have ever been down, i started to struggle a bit. i thought, "well, it's friggin' hot, i'm running down an asphalt road with no shade, and i didn't eat much this morning". keep in mind that this was around 3:00 in the afternoon, so the lack of food would normally have had me feeling starved on any other day. i guess the adrenaline and anxiety made me forget how long it had been since i had eaten a good, solid meal. that seemed to be taking its toll. i continued on, pouring water over my head every 10 minutes or so to try to keep cool.

about another 2 miles down the road, my crew was waiting at the first turn i encountered on that long, straight demon of a highway. they offered words of encouragement, i offered expletives. i was really running out of steam at this point, and i still had around 3.5 miles to go, and this was just my first leg of three. i was worried, to say the least. i run 6 miles all the time and have never been this exhausted (though i always run in the evening or early morning, and it has been a while since i ran in the heat). i kept on, while my van-mates headed to the exchange zone to meet up with van #2, which now included our beloved team captain, jeanette.

after stopping to walk a few times to catch my breath and try to muster the will to keep going, a gentleman in a truck pulled up next to me, asking where the heck we were running to. i told him about, while gasping for air, he said that it was the craziest thing he had heard, told me about some shortcuts to get to the next exchange zone, then told me i still had 4 miles to go. "4 miles you say?", i said. here i thought i was a mere mile or two away from my team. my will was shattered. i almost just gave up and walked the rest of the way. about 5 minutes later, though, the same gentleman drove by in the opposite direction and assured me he was mistaken, and that i only had about a mile and a half to go. i thanked him, my will partially restored, and got moving again. about a half mile from the exchange zone, my van-mate, jay (longtime buddy from high school days) came out to meet me and walk/run the rest of the way with me. thank you brother. not sure i could have run that last quarter of a mile without you.

i arrived at the exchange zone, completely exhausted. i passed the bracelet on to michael, then fell to the ground, while my entire team offered words of encouragement. after resting for a few minutes, i stumbled to the van, and we headed back to the midway hotel, a little hole of a howard johnson hotel in santee, sc. some of us rested, some went for food. i again chose to lay down for a few minutes after getting a quick shower. not long after, i started breaking out in a cold sweat. i stood up, immediately felt nauseous, and ran for the bathroom. this is where my part of the story of the actual race comes to an end. i apparently was suffering from lack of nourishment and heat exhaustion. i got sick a few times more over the next two hours. my van-mates had to leave to meet up with van #1 to start their second set of legs. before they left, jay ran to the dollar store and got me some jello (a million thanks!). they assured me not to worry, that they would figure out how to cover my second leg, and that van #1 would arrive at the hotel in a bit.

jeanette, michael, felicia, brent, andy, and kalan arrived a while later. everyone quickly grabbed an empty spot of bed or floor to get some rest. shortly thereafter, the air conditioner in our room broke and it warmed up quickly. when the alarm went off for them to wake up and head out to start their third leg, it was hot and miserable in the room, and i still felt terrible. while they packed the van, i decided to just head out with them. there was no way i could stay in this sauna of a room with how i was feeling. as i readied my gear, i started with the cold sweats again and made another b-line for the bathroom. i got way more acquainted with that hotel toilet than i ever want to get acquainted with a hotel toilet again. jeanette went to the hotel office and got our room switched, then she and felicia moved my gear to the new room (thank you so much, jeanette and felicia). i collapsed on the bed and made a night of it. earlier on in the evening, i notified anna of what was happening and we made tentative arrangements for her to pick me up in the morning before checkout time. i wish i had more to tell about the adventures of the rest of that night and the following day...

i awoke at 9am, simply devastated that my body had betrayed me, but more devastated that i had let my team down. after all, they had to put forth that extra effort to cover my last two legs on top of their own grueling legs. they somehow made this happen. i missed my midnight run through the forest, and my short 3.7 mile run that ended near park west in mt. pleasant, sc. i ate some fig newtons that michael had given me the first night, a biscuit, and a banana, and was able to keep it all down. i got up and took a shower and packed my things, then settled down and watched a few episodes of 'that's so raven'. i thought of my kids and couldn't wait to see my family (we often watch this show together on saturday mornings). anna and our two daughters arrived right at 11:00 am to pick me up at the hotel. we drove back to summerville from santee, where i ate a full lunch of chicken and stars and a pb&j. feeling much better, i contacted the team to see how they were doing. everything was going well.

after lunch with my girls, we made our way to the folly boat landing on folly beach to meet up with the team at the finish line. jeanette was the final runner, so we patiently awaited her arrival. i talked with my teammates about how everything went the previous night. kalan told me about the 9.7 mile run that she ran in my place. sounds like it was a refreshing run compared to what i had faced earlier that day. really wish i could have been there, but huge thanks to kalan for covering for me. i heard about the near macing by the hands of jay of some dude that was running behind another runner in one of the late night legs (turned out to be completely harmless), sleeping on the ground at one of the exchange zones, and about how many roadkills we all encountered (the deer carcass i encountered was heavy stuff - see links to pictures below). a moment later, jeanette came over the final bridge, then rounded the corner for the finish line. the entire team joined her as she crossed the finish line right at 35 hours and 2 seconds. what a feat! we collected our medals, took a few group photos, then headed across the street to relax, listen to a live band, and get a bit of grub. after trading individual stories with each other, we said our goodbyes and departed.

all-in-all, i think everyone had a tremendous time, and i hope we will all return next year. i know i will. i have a huge score to settle with highway 176 outside of cameron, sc, and with my body for letting me down in a major way. neverending thanks to a great team for inviting me to take part in this experience, and for all of the support along the way. i hope i will see you all again, especially next year for a second go-round.

and now for some pictures (sorry for all of the links - it was just easier for me this way, and it is getting late). enjoy!

feel free to leave any comments/corrections:

Palmetto 200, team 'yu do then i do' photos

and here are some i took with my cell phone that i uploaded to instagram:

-- outside of st. matthews, sc. waiting for jay to make his way to the 'significant' hill.

-- ladybug chillin' next to some bird poo. st. matthews, sc.

-- a pretty field with pretty flowers. st. matthews, sc.

-- a little weedy flower patch at the exchange zone. waiting for jay to finish in st. matthew, sc.

-- hey there, li'l fella. caterpillar crawling above jay's head at the exchange zone. waiting for kevin to arrive.

-- this is what i saw for the majority of my 10 mile leg. pretty, but no shade to speak of.

-- another pretty patch of land along my run.

-- funny how one of the only spots of shade on my run be at flea bite creek.

-- the only friendly faces i saw on my entire run (except my van-mates of course!).

-- see how it looks like that road just keeps going straight into oblivion? it does...

-- ran past this poor fella on my run. little did i know, this is how i would feel 3 hours later.

-- this sign did not speak the truth.

non-stop dance party with Prince - n. charleston coliseum - 03/30/11

2011-03-31T19:52:00.009-05:00

last night, my pal, charles, and i went to the north charleston coliseum to see the one and only Prince (since he is a god, he deserves to have his name capitalized). charles bought tickets for himself and his wife, leah, and she had no interest in going (what?!?!), so he offered it to me. i graciously accepted! we were in section 229, which was in the upper reaches about halfway down the left side of the stage. no matter, because the stage was so big, i don't know if there was a bad seat in the house.

we arrived shortly before 6 o'clock and waited outside until the doors opened. luckily the rain held off while we waited. once inside, charles got some grub in the form of nachos and a brew, while i just got a bottled water (i ate chick-fil-a with the wife and kids earlier, then washed that down with a venti skinny caramel macchiato from starbucks). we then went to find our seats. we sat there chatting randomly through text, calls, and in person with various people that we knew were there in the crowd somewhere.

right around 7:40, the opening act, lalah hathaway hit the stage with her background vocalists and excellent band. they put on an impressive set of solid soul music. the vocal harmonies were beautiful, the guitarist was playing some sweet solos, and the rest of the band laid down the rhythm. i learned that she is the daughter of legendary soul singer donny hathaway. i enjoyed the set.

Prince hit the stage at 8:36. the stage was dimly outlined in lights, the crowd started roaring, then we hear... "dearly beloved...". the crowd went NUTS as they ripped into 'let's go crazy'. the girl next to me was so excited, she started weeping, seriously. i had to steady her so she didn't fall forward and go tumbling down through the rows. charles and i both started boogyin', as did every person in sight. you never knew two white boys could move like this! it was intense.

Prince continued on, wowing us with hit after hit. there were a few songs i didn't recognize - i have to be honest, i have not followed his career as closely as some - but the music was groovin' and the booties were shakin'. my friend, katie, had a much better seat and got a few excellent pics that she gave me permission to use. here is one of them.

photo courtesy of my pal, katie campbell

Prince was in great spirits throughout the entire set, which lasted over nearly 2-1/2 hours. his dance moves were sweet - no way that dude is over 50 years old. his voice was intense, completely on point. his guitar skills are desirable to say the least. he was shredding through solos, my favorite being during 'purple rain'. the faces he made (which we could see on the 'jumbo-tron') as he hit some of those notes were true emotional guitar faces. if you are a guitarist or a spouse of a guitarist, you know what i'm talking about. i recorded a snippet of 'purple rain' with my crappy camera phone. gives an idea of where we were and how awesome it was. after the video is a picture from our point of view.

above video and photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

one of the highlights was when he said the the crowd, 'charleston, i told you not to get me started... ya'll 'bout to get pregnant up in here.' oh man, that had me ROLLIN'. so smooooth. a few minutes later, he said, 'ya'll pregnant yet?', then started grinning and covering his face to hide it. he played two encores and finally left the stage at 10:52. we had such a great time, and big thanks to charles for hooking me up with the ticket. i wouldn't have been able to go otherwise.

photo courtesy of my pal, katie campbell

the setlist was uploaded by some kind soul on setlist.fm here. it seems accurate the best i can tell. thank you, Prince, for coming to charleston. it was an amazing show that many, many people will not soon forget.

charleston record expo wrap-up

2011-03-31T07:02:00.004-05:00

i received the following email from galen hudson at monster music and movies in regards to the success of the charleston record expo that was held this past saturday, march 26th, 2011. kudos to monster music for attempting such a feat, and being successful at it. one of my favorite record stores by far.

*************************************************************

On Saturday, March 26, Monster Music conducted the first Charleston Record Expo, the first record convention to convene in Charleston in at least 17 years. The genesis for our show came about after we made a particularly large used record buy a couple of years ago. We had a lot of really good stuff, and we felt that it had potential far beyond local buyers. We slowly amassed vinyl since then, and about a year & a half ago we set up a couple of tables at the Savannah Record Fair and were quite surprised at our success. Kids there were hungry for vinyl and had no other outlet.

Our idea stewed. As time went on, and our collection grew, we continued to talk about it, and people encouraged us to do it. A lot of people said they’d want to help out or man a table. This past fall, we took the plunge and committed to a date. Our landlord graciously agreed to let us use an empty space down the sidewalk from us. Our initial marketing consisted of word-of-mouth only, and people were pretty excited about the idea. Our actual marketing campaign didn’t begin in full until January. We mailed flyers to everyone we could think of in the southeast – media, record stores, anyone relevant for whom we could find an address for. We posted it on Record Shows of America, which yielded good results. From there, we built a campaign involving local print and radio, internet, blogs, email, Facebook & Twitter, vinyl customers, label reps, and a street team at the College of Charleston. (Credit goes to our friends at Captains Comics for that one.) South of Philly Pizza, who sold pizza & drinks at the event, put flyers on their pizza boxes.

Pretty quickly, interested vendors started contacting us. I think the first one was a guy from Seneca, SC. The next was from Wilmington. Then we got an email from a guy in Detroit, saying he was familiar with Charleston and could we give him some more information. I didn’t think he’d follow through, especially given this was the first time around for this event, but he most certainly did.

Then some local people signed on. Then a fellow from Pensacola, then someone from around Columbia, SC. Pretty soon it was a virtual sell out. I was most afraid of throwing a show and having only three or four vendors sign on, and falling on our faces. But at the event’s eve, we had 11 vendors, representing 23 tables (plus our own, of course). We were pleased.

We got a great write up in the Charleston City Paper on Wednesday, and Thursday’s Charleston Scene did an excellent feature as well. Friday morning I did an interview on WCOO radio (105.5 the Bridge). The Bridge and their sister station WYBB (98 Rock) gave it so many incredible mentions, I can’t thank them enough. They took my press release and condensed the whole thing into a liner, and saturated the airwaves.

We’re still somewhat new to Facebook and Twitter marketing, and we don’t have a ton of followers like some stores do. But we did spend a little money on targeted ads on Facebook for a week or so leading up to the event, and we saw a marked increase in page views and followers.

Channel 2 came out on Saturday and shot some footage. A brief story ran that night.

The City Paper article is here: http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/monster-musics-galen-hudson-embraces-vinyl-slabs/Content?oid=3207277

The Charleston Scene article is here: http://www.charlestonscene.com/news/2011/mar/24/charleston-record-expo-a-dream-for-vinyl-lovers/

It also was posted on several blogs. In fact, if you google Charleston Record Expo, the first five or six pages of hits are specific references to our event.

Photos we took can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tangatamanu

After the City Paper article on Thursday, we received numerous phone calls from people wanting to sell their vinyl. Most of them I think were older and had less desirable stuff – easy listening, show tunes, pop vocal. I told people that we or someone might be interested in buying on Saturday, but the best bet was to bring them in to us sometime during the next week.

Three of the vendors showed up on Friday to check out the place & get acclimated. Probably my favorite aspect of the event was meeting the vendors. What a great group of guys, and they help remind me why I’m in this business. Everyone arrived first thing Saturday, as expected, and set up was very smooth.

So, how did it go?

First of all, my expectations going into it were modest. I was just hoping to not be embarrassed. A lot of people took a big chance by signing on to it – again, our first one – and traveled a good distance to get here. At 10:00, when the show opened, a few people trickled in. But somewhere around 10:15-10:30, it became wall to wall people, and it didn’t let up for a couple of hours. And even when it did let up, traffic was still quite brisk. It didn’t slow down to a mellow pace until after 3. And at closing time, 5:00, there were still a few people browsing.

One of our vendors, Greg, told me earlier in the day “to call this a big success would be a gross understatement!” Another of the vendors, who has been doing record shows for years, said he never does as well as he did that day. I polled vendors afterwards, and most everyone did splendidly. Turnout and gross sales surpassed all expectations.

There are a few things I’d do differently – but not much. We really did emphasize vinyl, vinyl, vinyl, all along, but when we initially pitched it, we imagined the show would be a little more all-encompassing – CD’s, DVD’s, boots, collectables, memorabilia, etc. Vinyl is obviously the main selling point for such a show, but towards that end we didn’t promote very well the fact there would be other vendors, selling import CDs, concert posters, comic books. Next time we’ll have a better idea going in what everyone’s going to have, and make sure to promote those items.

Other than that, next time we might need a bigger space.

I’ve copied all the vendors here I had email addresses for. If any of you have other comments or suggestions, please feel free to reply back & give me some feedback.

We didn’t overwhelm the event with our own merchandise. Considering our store was just a couple hundred feet down the sidewalk, we didn’t feel that was particularly necessary. But we did was to use this as a springboard into Record Store Day – April 16^th. We will see how well that succeeded shortly. If nothing else, I think there will be a nice glow effect for a little while, more people who are aware we sell (and buy) vinyl (and that we exist at all), and hopefully more attention drawn to the coastal southeast for record shows. Savannah’s Record Fair has really grown in the last year or so. Interest in vinyl is huge, and people are willing to travel for it.

And there is strength in numbers. Fellow vendors and show originators should, and need to, band together to make sure these events bounce off of one another and that we don’t leave the public eye. We can’t forget the abuse the music retail industry has taken in the last several years in the media and the public perception. When we see a success such as this, we can’t let the flame die. It takes multiple people to carry it. So hopefully people will talk about this show, and in the meantime go to the Savannah show (go to Record Store Day at Monster or your nearby record store too!) and others, and we won’t wait too long to do the next one. We certainly have our eye out for other vinyl collections and will have a lot of new stuff to show next time.

If nothing else, we are still the only independent record store in Charleston, probably the biggest CD & LP store in South Carolina, and we quite possibly lay claim to the biggest new & used vinyl retail selection in the southeast. If nothing else, we’ve got to be in the top 3 or 4. Hopefully people have taken notice. Not just of us, but also of the fact that demand is impressive enough for about ten record vendors to be thrilled with their results in the first ever Charleston Record Expo.

Thank you very much to all of you who participated, sold, bought, wrote about it, advertised it, blogged about it, talked about it, or helped out in any other way.

Galen Hudson

Monster Music & Movies

946 Orleans Rd

Charleston, SC 29407

843 571-4657

www.monstermusicsc.com

catmonster@mcrd.com

tegan and sara at the orange peel - 08/30/2010

2011-03-30T06:45:00.002-05:00

just wanted to post the videos from the incredible tegan and sara show i took from last year. they played in asheville at the orange peel on 08/30/2010. one of the best show i have seen in a very long time. i really, really love this band. anyways, enough gushing...here are the videos.

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group w/ Zechs Marquise - Asheville - 03/26/2011

2011-03-27T15:28:00.018-05:00

i went to asheville, nc last night to see the omar-rodriguez-lopez group and zechs marquise at the orange peel. my cousin adam lives in hickory, nc, so i drove up to his house to pick him up, then we headed on to asheville. we got to the venue about 20 minutes before the doors opened, and it was raining and cold. when i left charleston earlier that day, it was in the 70's so i didn't even bring a jacket or anything. they opened up the doors right on time, though, and we went straight in to grab a sweet spot in front of the stage. while adam held our spot, i checked out the merch table and picked up a sweet purple ORL t-shirt and the Omar/Lydia Lunch vinyl album (one i have been coveting for a while on vinyl, and out of stock on his website - score!).

once the show started, zechs marquise came out and completely blew me away. I have never seen these guys play together before, and they made it worth every dollar spent to get to this show. total energy and killer grooves. i will definitely see these guys again. after the show, i bought their album on vinyl as well ('our delicate stranded nightmare'), and three of the members were gracious enough to autograph it for me and chat for a moment after the show. swell guys.

photo courtesy of myself!

The omar rodriguez-lopez group came out shortly after zechs marquise finished their set. as soon as i saw cedric walk out with the guys, i turned into an excited 12 year old girl. i saw a video from SXSW that ORL Productions posted on youtube where cedric came out and sang with them, but i never thought in a million years he would be touring with them. it made the show just a tad bit more exciting for me, since all 5 members on stage are current members in the mars volta!!!

photo courtesy of myself!

they proceeded with a set of all new music (at least i have never heard any of it before) with cedric singing lead vocals the entire set. lots of energy and even some between-song banter, which i have never experienced with the mars volta before. extremely exciting times. i hope to see these excellent tunes getting an official release soon. i was able to capture some pretty sweet video of most of three songs from the performance. sound quality is decent, but not great, but it is better than nothing. check it out!!!

amazing...

i have got to start blogging again...

2011-03-12T16:21:00.003-05:00

so, it has been a while. a long while. but i am back! let's see...what have i been up to? with tax return money, i got a whole mess of resealable record sleeves from bags unlimited. always impressed by their selection and quality. i have finally finished bagging every single record we own. it was great fun going through the entire catalog one by one. i ran across a lot of records i forgot we owned. this collection is one of my most prized possessions...

we have had a few busy weeks with a few more ahead. a few birthdays coming up (calla's and others), a few concerts coming up in the next three months that i am totally looking forward to (omar rodriguez-lopez and the deftones). the charleston record expo is happening on march 26th. this should be very exciting! it is being put on by the great monster music and movies. captain's comic expo on march 29th. record store day 2011 coming up on april 16th. lots of exciting releases coming out for this. free comic book day on may 7th. dang. fun stuff indeed! hope i can handle all of this.

anna has been super busy with her etsy site, making hair bows/rings/other assorted things. and of course she has been busy with just being a stay-at-home mommy. we are so lucky to be in a situation where she could stop working devilish retail and focus on spending time with the girls.

will be posting more stuff here soon, so please stay tuned. i promise to make this more interesting than i have been (for all 2-3 of my readers...).

BlackDiamondSkye Presale

2010-05-19T13:50:00.001-05:00

pre-sale tickets for BLACKDIAMONDSKYE are only available for a few more days, so get decent seats while you can: http://bit.ly/axwNpw

my imaginary friends

2010-02-22T07:26:00.002-05:00

here is a band that i recently discovered via an old coworker. her daughter is the singer/pianist/guitarist. i enjoy their music. check them out and sign up for their mailing list:

dang.

2010-02-17T07:38:00.001-05:00

i need to get back into this thing. the 140 character limit of twitter is convenient and quick, but sometimes, you just need to say more, even if you are the only one listening.

d.i.p. king of pop

2009-06-26T09:41:00.002-05:00

coutesy of Obamicon.me

aaaahhh yes.

2009-05-30T21:49:00.001-05:00

this makes me very happy.

don't forget...

2009-04-14T08:10:00.000-05:00

...at monster music and movies in west ashley across from target, in the shopping center with bed, bath, and beyond. it should be an amazing day full of great live music and great sales. support your local independent record stores. please.

'cause i love 'em, that's why - installment 2

2009-04-05T17:18:00.003-05:00

for the second installment of my ''cause i love 'em, that's why' series, i will write a bit about bjork's album debut. i bought this album when it was released in 1993 based on hearing the song 'human behaviour' and seeing the video on mtv at ron r's house. we both fell in love with her quirky lyrics and voice, and loved her accent. and it certainly helped that she was so easy on the eyes.

her music was a lot different than other things i was listening to at the time. less loud rock sounds, more dancy beats, with a few tear-jerking ballads in there as well. i spent a lot of my time sitting alone in my room listening to this album that year. i also got my first car that year, so i dubbed the cd to tape and cruised around town with the windows down, speakers blaring. i included a few songs from the album on mixed tapes as well, whether for myself or for some lady friend (at age 15, i made lots of mixed tapes). this particular album opened my eyes to a different kind of music, added more to my musical intellect, let me feel that there was amazing music out there that could be made without distorted guitars. which led, i am sure, to me seeking out bands like cibo matto or portishead or morcheeba years later.

songs like 'violently happy', 'crying', 'venus as a boy', 'come to me', hell, everyone of them mean something to me for that time in my life. and everytime i hear these songs, it takes me back to those days. no matter how down i felt back then as a teenager living in goose creek, sc, this music always made me happy. not to say that this album has only nostalgic value to me. if i were to hear it for the first time today, i know it would sound equally as amazing to me as it sounded 16 years ago.

when i talk about my respect for bjork as an artist and how much i love her music, most people refer to videos they have seen where she is talking about how her tv broadcasts images through to her mind or that music awards show where she was wearing the swan thing around her neck, and just talk about how they can't stand her because of how weird she is. i find it hard to believe that many of these people have ever sat down and actually listened to her music. to me, all of the 'crazy' things she does makes her that much more endearing to me. she is a unique artist, and is not afraid to stand out as an individual.

now, i am not writing this to try to convince anyone to like her music. if you've made up your mind, ok, good. i am writing this to let anyone who reads this know that i (and my wife, coincidentally) love her music, and this album got me started on a whole new world of music, including her future albums. so there you have it. more installments to come in the near future, so if you give a crap, and read this blog occasionally, keep coming back, because this will hopefully bring me back here to write a little more often than usual.

'cause i love 'em, that's why - installment 1

2009-03-24T20:21:00.004-05:00

so, for the last few days, while driving in my car, i have been listening to an old classic in the musical library of layne, and was inspired to begin a new series of installments entitled ''cause i love 'em, that's why', in which i will discuss albums that helped shape me into the dude i am today. the album that prompted all of this is none other than shonen knife's let's knife.

i first got wind of this band back in 1992 because i was a huge fan of nirvana, and kurdt cobain talked about them in interviews often and had them open up for nirvana on one of their tours. i thought, in my 15-year-old mind, 'if they're good enough for kurdt, they're good enough for me!', so i went out and purchased let's knife, which was their most recent album released, and the only one i could find locally.

the front and back covers made me very curious. three petite japanese women on the front (at the time, and still, i was very much into female-led rock groups), wearing bright crazy multi-colored outfits surrounded by psychedelic cartoon-y flowers. the track listing on the back made me even more curious, with titles such as 'flying jelly attack', 'twist barbie', 'get the wow', and 'tortoise brand pot scrubbing cleaner's theme (sea turtle)', i thought, this has to be good! i got home from the record store (i am almost positive i picked it up from manifest discs and tapes, now monster music and movies), and went straight to my room to crack open the cd. when i put it in my boombox, my mind was blown.

seventeen tracks of perfectly crafted pop music, innocent child-like lyrics, rockin' guitars, good guitar solos, tight drumming, vocal harmonies that made me weep (i have a thing for good vocal harmonies), and the list goes on. at age 15, i had never heard anything else like it, and i devoured it, listening constantly and trying to learn all of the songs on guitar. come to find out, they had quite a back catalogue of albums, so i had some work to do tracking them down through special orders, mail orders, etc (no home internet access back then, kiddies, at least not in the harvey household - i had to order though the mail (!)).

i pushed the album on all of my unsuspecting friends, and a few of them were equally impressed, most notably ron r., oscar r., and charles r. (none of them related, and not the charles r. that i currently associate with). three years later, i discovered they were playing in atlanta, where, coincidentally, ron r. was going to school, so charles r. and i made the road trip and saw them at the masquerade. we were like a gaggle of prepubescent girls staring at a joey mcintyre poster on their bedroom walls, except this was way cooler. we were right up front within reach of naoko yamano, the lead singer/guitarist. they were amazing and larger than life up on that stage. we thought, how can these three little ladies make such an incredible mind-blowing sound? after their set, they came out and signed autographs and stuff. they were very quiet when it was our turn to chat - they were probably a bit freaked out by the 6'3" ugly pimply white dude towering over them. we stood there like idiots, not thinking of anything cool to say. they signed a setlist and a ticket stub for me and i was in heaven.

anywho, on that note, i will leave you with some thought-provoking lyrics from one of my favorite tracks on the album 'i am a cat':

i discover whiskers of a cat
in a timeless zone
and i put them on my face.
in a moment i become a sweet little cat
and i dance on a flying saucer.

so, so cool.

more of this type of thing to come, so stay tuned, if you wanna.

captain's comic expo!

2009-03-10T08:23:00.003-05:00

neko case - new album and single

2009-01-15T07:53:00.003-05:00

neko case has a new album coming out on march 3rd called middle cyclone. she also has a new single, people got a lot of nerve, to promote the album that her label, anti-, is offering for a free download on their website. additionally, for every blog that promotes the new single, neko case and anti- will make a cash donation to best friends animal society. download the new track for free here.

to find out how to promote this on your blog to help a good cause, check out this link.

where did all the good shows go???

2008-12-07T22:07:00.005-05:00

there is a serious lack of good shows recently. haven't been to one in almost two months, i think. if anyone hears of anything i might like, please drop me a line.

in other news, i went to a christmas parade downtown with my daughter today, and we had a blast. we watched all of the cars drive by and stuff, then we had a picnic in marion square that consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fruit snacks (yum!). mina then played on some giant inflatable things (slide, obstacle course, jump castle) for about 45 minutes. we topped it off with some cake-cake and hot chocolate at the starbucks across the street and a quick run through of urban outfitters. 'twas an excellent time. i left the camera in the car, but took this shot right when we got back before leaving downtown.

photo taken by myself

good advice. really.

2008-12-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

at the drive-in on letterman, a long time ago

2008-11-26T05:00:00.001-05:00

this is one of my favorite live performances by at the drive-in (future members of the mars volta and sparta). it is a performance of their song 'one-armed scissor' from their album relationship of command, live on letterman, some time ago. i wish i could have seen this band live before they split up. just ran across this while surfing the ol' web.

'tis a girl

2008-11-19T12:57:00.004-05:00

and on a completely unrelated topic, my wife and i just found out we are having another baby girl. where my ladies at?!?!

check out the eyeball!!!

normal 'ol ultrasound shot.

new john frusciante solo album announced!!!

2008-11-19T09:22:00.007-05:00

here is an email i received from redhotchilipeppers.com recently:

***********************************

Friends and Fans,

The Empyrean is my new record and will be released worldwide via Record Collection on January 20th 2009. It was recorded on and off between December 2006 and March 2008. It is a concept record that tells a single story both musically and lyrically. The story takes place within one person, and there are two characters. It contains a version of Tim Buckley's, 'Song To The Siren' and the rest of the songs are written by me. My friend Josh plays on it, as does Flea. It also features Sonus Quartet, Johnny Marr and The New Dimension Singers. I'm really happy with it and I've listened to it a lot for the psychedelic experience it provides. It should be played as loud as possible and it is suited to dark living rooms late at night.

- John Frusciante, November 3rd, 2008

The Empyrean Track listing:

Before The Beginning
Song To The Siren
Unreachable
God
Dark/Light
Heaven
Enough Of Me
Central
One More Of Me
After The Ending

***********************************

holy crap. i cannot wait. this email makes me so happy.

john frusciante - dying song

2008-11-14T07:01:00.000-05:00

here is a nicely done video put together by some youtube-er with john frusciante's 'dying song', which appears on the soundtrack to the movie the brown bunny, playing over the top of scenes from that movie. i love the movie, my friend charles was not a fan. john frusciante contributes five tunes to the soundtrack, although none actually appear in the film (bummer). john frusciante rules, and this is my favorite song by him.

what in god's name... (halloween fun)

2008-11-04T18:13:00.006-05:00

so, i was sorting through mina's halloween haul, as all responsible parents should do before letting the kids loose on all that stranger candy, when i found (amongst the few opened wrappers, chewed up sucker sticks (not by mina - eww!), and just plain weird candy) a piece of gummy candy in a wrapper labelled 'gummy body parts candy'. that's all good. in the spirit of halloween, body parts candy is quite normal. i'm all for it. we found a set of teeth still attached to the gums (awesome) and a gummy nose (sweet) and something else that kinda looks like an ear. well, not really. what is that? wait a minute!!!!!

photo courtesy of myself

is it just me, or does that sorta resemble a...nevermind, use yer imagination. anna says it is an ear, but i have never seen an ear that looks like that. comment please, and let me know your thoughts.

jucifer, the pour house, 10/10/08

2008-11-04T07:00:00.001-05:00

this past saturday night, i went with my friend shane to see jucifer, a band that we both love and have seen numerous times now. they played at a small bar on james island called the pour house. my friend chris thomas plays drums in the band that opened for them, banana hammock (the best band name i have heard in a while). they are kind of a thrashy, screamy, metal group with lots of mid-song tempo changes. i liked them. chris has made some amazing music over the years, and this is a continuation.

jucifer came on stage at around midnight, and once again blew me away. the band consists of two members, g. amber valentine (maniacal guitar/vocals) and g. edgar livengood (maniacal drums/vocals). the guitar rig consists of no less than thirteen 4x12" speaker cabinets, which is about twelve more than most guitarists have at a small club show like that. upon the first strum of the guitar, my innards instantly turned to liquid (luckily this has happened before, so i thought to bring an extra pair of undershorts).

photo courtesy of myself

they continued on and played a loud, screaming, psycho-drumming set that truly ruled. there was a lame turnout, but that did not effect their spirits in the slightest. and the few people that were there were going nuts.

photo courtesy of myself

after the show, amber v. promptly manned the merchandise booth, chatting with folks and signing autographs, showing no signs of just having blown minds. i bought their new live dvd, jucifer - veterans of volume: live with eight cameras and can't wait to watch it. if you like the band, order it from the link in the previous sentence. it is only $10 plus postage, and it is a limited pressing. the dvd contains a live show, music videos, and tons of other stuff. this is a great band and they need all the support they can get. i also purchased their new album l'autrichienne on pretty pink vinyl. it is a beauty. hope to see you all at the next show!

the breeders cover guided by voices 'shocker in gloomtown'

2008-10-29T12:08:00.006-05:00

i am not really a guided by voices fan or anything, but i am somewhat of a breeders fan, and this cover/video is refreshingly rockin' and i like it.

The Breeders |MTV Music

leonard cohen performs 'the stranger'

2008-10-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

a captivating performance by leonard cohen on the julie felix show in 1967. this is one of my favorites of his live performances. listen to that finger-picking. wow.

the raconteurs, tabernacle, 10/01/08

2008-10-20T08:30:00.001-05:00

after the mars volta show from my previous post, anna and i made our way back to atlanta the following week to see the raconteurs. because of some unforeseen happenings, we ended up bringing our sweet monster daughter, mina, with us, and anna offered to stay with her so i could attend the show (now that is love). we ended up going to the atlanta zoo the next day, so it turned into a fun-filled family mini-vacation. but i digress...

this show was also at the tabernacle, a venue that i like more and more each time i attend a show there. cameras were allowed, so i got some better shots than some of my previous efforts. the opening band was one that anna discovered a while back and liked called the kills, a two-piece band (two guitarists/vocalists - one male/one female) and a drum machine. they played an energetic set and were very entertaining. i wish anna could have seen it...

photo courtesy of myself

the raconteurs blew my mind. as you probably know, the band consists of jack white of the white stripes, brendan benson, and jack lawrence and patrick keeler, both of the greenhornes. they played a great selection that covered both of their albums, broken boy soldiers and consolers of the lonely.

photo courtesy of myself

brendan benson sang the majority of the songs, because jack white was losing his voice. still, the energy created from the entire band was tremendous and could be felt pulsing through the room. one of the highlights of the show for me was when they played 'blue veins', the closer of their first album. i was not smart enough to at first remember my camera can shoot video, but i was smart enough to remember this right after the second verse, and i was able to capture the final 6 minutes of the song. check it out:

video courtesy of myself

my favorite part of the show was when they played 'carolina drama', which happens to be the closer to their second album, and it was the closer of the show. jack white has an amazing ability to tell a gripping story, and this song is an example of that. here is a picture from when they were performing that song:

photo courtesy of myself

i hope jack white's voice is getting better, and i hope to be able to see them again soon. this was such a different experience from when i saw the white stripes last year. both shows were awesome, but the music is so different between the two bands. this time around, it felt more like just a group of guys in a band that really love playing together instead of jack white as the ringleader. he looks good in both positions, but he seems happier here.

keren ann performs 'sailor and widow' live

2008-10-12T12:07:00.008-05:00

this is an amazing performance from an amazing artist. performed live for the blue note jazz series.

also, here is a great video for a beautiful song called 'lay your head down' off of her self-titled latest album:

the mars volta, the tabernacle, 09/24/08

2008-10-11T22:55:00.012-05:00

my wife, anna, and i recently saw the mars volta in concert in atlanta at the tabernacle, which is a concert venue that was converted from an old church. this is my fourth time seeing the mars volta in concert, and anna's first time. the show was titled 'an evening with the mars volta', which basically means no opening band (fine by me!!!). we ended up in a great spot, although right next to the pa speaker (forgot ear plugs...), but that's ok, because it was worth the 3 days of ringing.

photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

the show was amazing, with lots of energy from the band. they played just at 2 hours long, and performed songs that spanned their entire catalog, with the exception of deloused in the comatorium - nothing from that one... i was expecting the setlist to mimic the one from when i saw them a few months back, but they changed it up, even playing songs that i have never heard live before. here is the setlist:

goliath
viscera eyes
new song (!)
wax simulacra
ouroboros
eunuch provocateur
ilyena
cygnus..., vismund cygnus
the widow
aberinkula

once again, they have blown my mind. anna enjoyed the show, too, though i don't think she was boogying as much as me. also, this is officially baby #2's first concert. that is one for the baby book for sure. here is another picture from the show:

photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

i will be seeing them the next time they come even close. if you are interested in coming along, let me know.

and on a totally unrelated note, as anna and i were leaving the show, walking down the sidewalk right outside the venue, we passed a dude that, i swear, looked identical to the late, great elliott smith. we both stopped and looked at each other, then turned around and tried to track him down, but he disappeared just like that into the crowd. makes me think, what if... nah. couldn't be.....right?

nine inch nails, atlanta, 08/13/2008

2008-10-11T22:32:00.003-05:00

saw nine inch nails recently in atlanta with my friend william, and it ruled. i have seen them before, but this time the stage performance was so amazing. they played tons of great songs, and the current lineup of musicians is tops (although i just heard that josh freese is leaving the band after the current tour, which is a bummer...). they played at the gwinnett arena, and we were in the general admission section. we did not get too close because we wanted to get a good view of the stage show. this photo shows the multi-layered screens that came down to make a kind of 3-d landscape (really sweet in person - the picture does no justice):

photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

i won't go into too much detail except to say that it must cost a lot of money to pull off some of those effects, and now that trent reznor doesn't have a record label to help foot the bill, he is putting a lot of his own money in to make this a great performance for his fans. a true master, in my book. here is a picture of the band logo that appeared on the screen when they left the stage the first time:

photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

my favorite part of the evening had to be when they played 'only' from the album with teeth. that song makes me want to get down (though i believe this next picture was taken while they were playing 'echoplex' from their album the slip, which was pretty killer as well).

photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

already have tickets lined up to see them again on november 1st in greenville, this time with my friends chris and jennifer, and my sweet wife anna!

memory tag

2008-08-30T09:47:00.002-05:00

i have many things to write about, but can't seem to find the time. so, for the sake of update this thing so people will come back and check it every once in a while, here is an easy post for me (i was tagged by my cousin adam's wife ann):

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I’ll assume you’re playing the game and I’ll come to your blog and leave one about you.

ours (the band) in columbia, 07/25/08

2008-07-26T09:46:00.016-05:00

i ventured to columbia yesterday with my wife, anna, and friend, shane to see ours, a band of which i have written about here before (we saw them a few months back in goose creek, opening for filter). they were headlining this show, so we had hopes of more than the six songs we heard from the first show. there were two opening bands, and both were pretty alright. the first was a band called plain jane automobile from orlando, the second called god or julie from brooklyn.

ours took the stage around 10:45, i think, and played a strong hour and 45 minutes. they played songs from their first album distorted lullabies, as well as from their latest album mercy. i got a copy of the setlist, so here is what they played:

willing
black
mercy
drowning
i'm a monster
here is the light
ran away to tell the world
murder
live again
god only wants you
the worst things beautiful
fallen souls
get up

photo courtesy of myself

i can't say anything here that i didn't say in my post from the last time. but again, you must check out this band. seriously. and seeing as how there were like 20 whole people there last night, i can tell that nobody listens to me. well fine!

i was able to record video for one of the songs (the worst things beautiful) with my digital camera. the audio and video both are kinda sketchy, but it was wicked loud and dark, so... anyways, here is the video footage:

video footage courtesy of myself

i got to chat with the lead singer for all of 10 seconds before i backed away because i could tell he was anxious to get about his night. who would blame him. i look like a giant ogre standing next to him. that is a big head!!! i can't wait to see them again.

photo courtesy of myself

the cure in atlanta in june

2008-07-26T08:52:00.005-05:00

my wife and i recently saw the cure in atlanta. they were originally scheduled to play this past september, but rescheduled their tour so they could focus on finishing up the recording of their new album (due out in the next month or so). the show was amazing.

the opening band was a band i had never heard of, and they blew me away. they were an instrumental band called 65daysofstatic. at least the show was instrumental. there was a microphone on the stage, but the guitarist just used it to say in his english accent, "hello, we're 65daysofstatic. we're from england. thank you.", and that was it. they ripped through there set without pause, and it was awesome. i bought one of their albums on vinyl from the merchandise booth, but i still need to pick up a cd or two and listen more closely.

the cure walked on stage right at 9:15, then walked off 3 hours later right at 12:15. it was incredible. i think they played every song that i could even think of. a great mix of new, old, very old, and obscure. robert smith was in high spirits (i swear i'm not lying), as he kept grinning like a child at the audience. they played three encores, each one we thought was the last, but they just kept returning to the stage. for old dudes, they have some serious stamina, because i was just dancing, and after 3 hours, i was worn slap out! i wasn't able to get any photos at the show because it was an arena ("no cameras, recording devices, or nail clippers/box cutters!" was what the ticket read, I believe). so, i will just include a picture of the ticket stub (it is from the original september 15th show, and we were allowed to reuse them for the rescheduled show). a fine show indeed! cheers!

ew's "20 scariest movies of all time"

2008-05-30T22:34:00.004-05:00

back in october of 2004, entertainment weekly posted an article on their website where they grouped, what was in there opinion, the 20 scariest movies of all time. my friend leah sent me the link a few weeks ago, and i realized i had only seen 18 of them (gasp!). so i immediately set out to complete the list (leah was missing 2 as well, so we kind of had a contest to see who could finish first - i totally won! thanks, serial killer henry!). here is what i think about the list, broken down by each title...

1. the shining (1980): easily my favorite movie of all time. jack nicholson is perfect as jack torrance, and shelly duvall and danny lloyd are incredible. the movie scares the bejeezus out of me. i have literally seen it over 90 times (i used to watch it constantly when i lived alone), and as a matter of fact, it needs another viewing since i picked up the 2-disc version a few months back. this is required viewing.

2. the exorcist (1973): this one is in my top 5 favorite movies. some of the scenes in this movie are downright disturbing, but i can't seem to get enough of it. i really enjoyed the "spider walk" scene that they included in the dvd extras. that completely freaked me out, and i wish they left it in the movie. part 2 is pretty decent, but part 3 is nearly as good as the first one.

3. the texas chainsaw massacre (1974): this movie freakin' rules, and scares the living crap out of me. i will never stop on an old country road/highway to try to get help after watching this. i will just stick to the interstates. the villains in this movie are downright sadistic. and leatherface is a big dumb ox, but he is a big dumb ox with a huge chainsaw and a bad attitude. i need my blankie.

4. the silence of the lambs (1991): i wouldn't say this one actually scares me. hannibal lechter is a downright evil dude, and jodie foster is excellent in this as well. there are some great scenes that make you go "oh snap!", but i can sleep in the dark without a nite-lite after watching it.

5. jaws (1975): i haven't seen this in ages, but i remember it was pretty dang scary then, and probably still is. not so much that i would call it a horror movie, but it makes me definitely not want to go on a boat in the ocean. still, they did some amazing things with that big fake mechanical shark.

6. halloween (1978): michael myers is unstoppable. just when i thought he was down for good, he is up and at it again. and jamie lee curtis sure was lookin' fine. an excellent movie to watch in a dark room with friends (surround sound helps). and rob zombie's remake (2007) takes it to a higher, more brutal, level.

7. psycho (1960): this really is an amazing film. anthony perkins plays a perfect crazed mama's boy. and janet leigh (jamie lee curtis's mother, coincidentally) plays the role of a paranoid thief brilliantly. it is hard to believe she is only in the movie for a short time. alfred hitchcock was a superb filmmaker, and this is one of many of his excellent films.

8. seven (1995): brad pitt and morgan freeman star in this freakin' crazy film. i was on the edge of my seat the entire movie the first time i watched it. i still get chills at the end when kevin spacey is talking to brad pitt while the delivery driver is driving down the long desert road with the package. (dangit! i think i just crapped my pants.)

9. rosemary's baby (1968): another of my top 5 favorites. i love the suspense in this. mia farrow plays the helpless victim so exquisitely. i truly love how this movie was filmed. it has a very 70's feel to it, and the shots of new york city are beautiful. oh yeah, and the scene where satan impregnates rosemary is downright horrifying. i can watch this movie over and over and never tire of it.

10. poltergeist (1982): directed by the guy that brought us #3, this movie is nowhere near as sadistic, but it still scared the pants off of a 12 year old layne, i gotta say. the part where the boy is counting endlessly and the tree attacks him through the window; the part where the guy starts peeling away the skin from his face while looking in the bathroom mirror; that freaky midget lady. holy crap! i have the soundtrack to this loaded on my ipod, and i get goosebumps everytime a track from it comes on.

11. a nightmare on elm street (1984): i don't even need to say anything here. (mutter) dang freddy, making me scared to fall asleep for 3 solid years (mutter).

12. john carpenter's the thing (1982): this was one of the two that i had not yet seen when i read the list initially. my aforementioned friend leah borrowed it from her dad so that i could borrow it. and it ruled. i was all thinking it was just some kind of psychological type thriller, you know, folks in the arctic going stir crazy and stuff, until about 30 minutes in when the spider-alien-thingy burst out of the dog!!! i was glued to the screen for the next hour.

13. the evil dead (1982): this is number 5 on my top 5 favorite movies. it is so scary, bloody, and funny all at the same time. i was screaming, saying "ew!", and laughing insanely simultaneously. this is the only movie that could accomplish that, ever. i have bought three different versions of the dvd release (i think) over the years without hesitation. this movie is just so cool.

14. carrie (1976): man, this movie is so close to my top 5 it is not even funny. it scares me so bad that i have to watch it in the daytime. the soundtrack is eerie and haunting, and i listen to it often (i love the soundtracks to most of these movies as much as i love the movies, and i collect them often). sissy spacek kills in this move. in every sense of the word.

15. night of the living dead (1968): a masterpiece. this movie has been released so many times it was hard to find an appropriate one to link to. if you haven't seen this, you must do it now. forget the colourized one, forget the 3-d one, get the original b&w $5 one. you can pretty much find it anywhere. it is the best zombie movie of all time.

16. the omen (1976): this wraps up my top 5 favorite movie list. i love this movie more than words can describe. the characters are extremely believable, the death scenes are superb, the story itself is amazing. i want to watch it again right now after just thinking about it. the remake was okay, but the little dude just wasn't as believable.

17. an american werewolf in london (1981): this is the second of the two that i had not seen (until a few nights ago, that is). i rented this from netflix, and man, was i surprised. this was an excellent movie from start to finish. the effects during the transformation scene were so realistic and painful looking. i can't believe i had never seen this one before!

18. henry: portrait of a serial killer (1990): this is the one that allowed me to sneak by both leah and her dad to complete this list (they had both never seen it). i happened to rent this a few years ago because my friend richard was talking about how sweet it was. i gotta say, richard, i didn't think it was sweet, but it was definitely messed up. i might watch it again as soon as i completely forget everything that i saw, just to remind myself why i shouldn't have watched it again.

19. the hitcher (1986): good ol' c. thomas howell. alright, this movie was okay, but definitely not one of the 20 scariest of all time. i would have replaced this one with george romero's martin (1978), the tale of a young fella with vampiric tendencies. the hitcher does make me never want to pick up a hitchhiker, so it did have some value to me.

20. lost highway (1997): wha??? one of the scariest movies of all time. i mean, it is an excellent movie, and that scene where the dude's face gets split by the glass-top coffee table is brilliantly painful-looking, but i can't remember being scared. just mildly confused. i would maybe replace this one with the amityville horror (1979) or misery (1990) or something. still, though, a great movie.

in conclusion, thanks, entertainment weekly for taking the time to compile this list. thanks, leah, for sending me this link in the first place. thanks, anna, for not divorcing me for watching so many scary movies all the time. and finally, thanks, mom and dad, for not letting me watch any of these when i was younger, so i can watch them so much more often now that i am old. time for me to go. i gotta watch me some movies.

kickball!!!

2008-05-30T09:49:00.004-05:00

i just joined a kickball league! i heard about it from a posting on our social board at work and thought, "what the heck!". i have not played kickball in a while, but i remember it being insanely awesome, and i have been looking for ways to stay in shape while having fun, so this is going to be perfect. it is only one day a week starting mid-june, but a little is better than nothing, right.

so this summer, every wednesday night, i will be ripping it up on the kickball field. oh, let's be honest, i am going to pull a hammy the first game because i didn't stretch enough beforehand...

i even have a member card in my wallet now, which i guess makes me official.

it's as if they were reading my mind...

2008-05-28T06:56:00.003-05:00

ours, the band who i just saw open for filter last week is coming back around, this time headlining a show at, coincidentally, headliner's in columbia, sc on july 25th. i am going for sure with my wife (and a few friends, hopefully). you should go, too.

image from headliner's website

filter w/ ours at the dive, 05/22/2008

2008-05-26T13:25:00.005-05:00

this past thursday, i went with my wife, anna, and friend, shane, to the dive in goose creek, sc to see filter with opening bands opiate for the masses and ours. it started with a smallish crowd for the first opener, opiate for the masses. they were pretty decent, although a bit over the top for my taste. but they were excited to be there, and that helps.

the second opener, ours, is an insanely good band, and i was excited to finally be able to see them. the crowd was not as enthused as i was, but hey man, their loss. they pretty much ruled. they only played 6 songs, all from their new cd, mercy (dancing for the death of an imaginary enemy), which i picked up two days prior, but even not knowing the songs very well, i was still enthralled by lead singer jimmy gnecco's voice. it is so powerful live. combined with the excellence of the band, it made for a very awe-inspiring show.

photo courtesy of my actual digital camera (!), not my crappy camera phone

if you have a chance to see these guys live, i would suggest doing so. they deserve so much more attention than they are getting.

photo courtesy of myself

once they left the stage, filter took over and brought the crowd to a raging frenzy. i started making fun of the all the drunk people, screaming "woooooooo!!!" really loud and pumping my fist, then i realized i was having a really great time, so i kept being obnoxious. i think it made the show much better than it would have been otherwise. we were right up front for this one (as we were when ours was playing), and there were several hand slaps and fist bumps from lead singer, richard patrick (did you guys know he is the younger bro of agent fox moulder replacement and t-1000 robert patrick? - that is some pretty sweet knowledge). anywho, he was in top form, screaming his face off.

photo courtesy of myself

the band played lots of their more popular songs, like captain bligh, jurassitol, hey man nice shot, and one of my personal favorites, dose. they also played an insane version of their song trip like i do that was originally recorded for the soundtrack of the movie spawn with the crystal method. they also played a few from their new album, anthems for the damned. after the show, my wife and i spotted richard patrick hanging outside the side door and accosted him for an autograph. he was also nice enough to take a picture with me.

photo courtesy of myself (yep, i took that picture)

the show was killer, and i will not hesitate to see filter or ours again if they come around in the future. as for opiate for the masses...well, i would watch them open for filter or ours again.

helmet at the dive in goose creek, sc

2008-05-18T14:05:00.003-05:00

i went and saw helmet last night at a place called the dive in goose creek. i know, weird (not that i saw them last night, but that they played in a small club in goose creek of all places). but the place was pretty cool, and the sound was great, and helmet ruled. there were two opening bands, the citizen and a.s.g.. a.s.g. were severely awesome. long story short (because i never seem to have much time with these posts), helmet played a great show, they hung out afterwards to sign autographs and chat, and they were very cool guys. and they nearly played the entire meantime album, which made me feel 15 years old again. here are a few pics from the show, taken, as always, with my crappy cell phone camera.

helmet being awesome

page hamilton being gracious enough to take a picture with me

next show: filter with opening band ours (also at the dive). i am more excited about seeing ours honestly, because they wail.

an evening with the mars volta - hob, myrtle beach - april 4th, 2008

2008-04-05T09:16:00.006-05:00

last night was an amazing night. i went with my friends aram, geoff, and shane, and a guy i just met last night named rob, to the house of blues to see the mars volta. we arrived at around 7:00pm and waited in line for about 45 minutes for the doors to open. once inside, we rushed to the floor to get as close as possible. we ended up being four or five people back from the front of the stage, which turned out to be an excellent spot.

the mars volta came on stage right at 8:40pm, and completely ripped into their set. doing some research before the show, i found on the band's website the setlists for several of their recent shows, and they were all the same with the exception of a few songs here and there that changed at the end. so, i printed a setlist out and brought it with me to compare. turns out it was right on the money. they played the following songs:

roulette dares (the haunt of)
viscera eyes
wax simulacra
goliath
ouroboros
tetragrammaton
agadez
cygnus...vismund cygnus
aberinkula
drunkship of lanterns

photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

the entire band was on point last night. omar barely missed a note as he shredded it up on the guitar. cedric is hitting notes higher than ever, with the greatest of ease, and has the dance moves of nobody i have ever witnessed. their new drummer thomas pridgen is insane. he was pounding away and moving like a contortionist the whole show, barely slowing down to catch his breath. a true talent. the band seems to enjoy having him around as well. as he was playing a drum breakdown part, the other band members were all watching him with this collective amazed grin on their faces, as if they were saying, "oh man, we hit the jackpot with this guy!". many time during the show, i saw parts of his drumsticks chipping off and flying through the air. the rest of the band kept a near-perfect rhythm going throughout. the saxophonist/flautist/percussionist stayed busy with blowing our doors down with his talented playing, and at one point had a saxophone vs. guitar battle with omar. i honestly can't call the winner on that one.

a couple of highlights of the show...

during 'cygnus', cedric broke into lyrics from the traditional american folk song, 'john the revelator', which i came to know of from the white stripes song 'cannon', from their self-titled first album, which also contains lyrics from the song.

during one point in the show, during a quieter breakdown, someone screamed out a song title from an older album or something, which kind of ticked cedric off, prompting a short rant afterwards, where he bashed the guy for only wanting to hear old material. he went on to say that their band is not a jukebox, and if he wants to hear only the 'hits', "you can go see panic at the disco. they're coming in few weeks.". it was pretty funny.

at the beginning of 'aberinkula', they played a quiet 8-10 minute intro that slowly built up to the assault that starts the song. it was intense, and one of the high moments of the show. but let us all be honest, i was in the clouds the whole show, and probably won't come back down for a few days at least. (i still have the ringing in my ears to constantly remind me :))

photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

the show finally ended at 11:15pm. that's right. 2 hours and 35 minutes with no breaks or encores. these guys are machines. they have earned my respect time and again, and are one of the greatest bands ever, in this part-time blogger's humble opinion. this has been my third time witnessing their live performance (and this last one was longer than the other two shows put together, as they were opening for system of a down and the red hot chili peppers previously). if you get the chance to see them live, you should. if you haven't heard their music, you should. i will be there their next time around for sure. in the meantime, though, i am going to listen to their new album again, and imagine last night some more. --signed, a giddy 30 year old boy

tagged... things you probably do or do not know about me

2008-03-23T09:18:00.003-05:00

abby tagged me again (sorry it has taken me so long to actually do this).

10 years ago: i was graduating from trident technical college, meeting my future wife, eating at taco bell almost everyday for lunch with jennifer and chris, getting ready to start at college of charleston, hanging out with friends from exchange factor, going to concerts, going to dance parties to watch kjell and arthur spin their records. i was a mess, but in a very minor way. it was an exciting time, although i would not have told you so then.

5 things on my to-do list today: hmmm, typing this up is one, watching a bunch of musical performances from david letterman show from the cbs website is two, go to the in-laws to pick up the baby and have easter dinner is three, listen to the new she & him album is four, and probably just spend some time with anna sans baby for an hour or so.

things i would do if i were suddenly made a billionaire: first things first, we would move to a sweet, eco-friendly house somewhere lovely near the mountains, and i would decorate completely in 50's/60's modern furniture, i would move 3 of my closest friends with us, i would pay off my immediate family's debts so that they can enjoy more of a stress-free life, i would donate lots of dough to non-profits that deal with donating musical instruments to schools in impoverished areas, i would eat a peanut butter sandwich with toasted wheat bread, i would put money away for mina's college, i would buy a usb turntable with a lid (!), i would open my own shop with records, books, and cds on one side and clothing furniture and a coffee bar on the other side (for me and anna), and i might even open a drive-in theatre that only plays old horror movies. yeah, i would definitely at least do all of that.

3 of my bad habits: not listening very well, not spending enough time stepping back and actually enjoying life day to day, and i am a sucker for oreos and milk. i truly can't get enough.

5 places i have lived: goose creek (sc), virginia beach (va), north charleston (sc), keyport (wa), and charleston (sc), in that order.

jobs i have had: eff bi-lo anyways!, third shift at a gas station, discovery zone, cactus car wash (i lasted two weeks in that blasted heat and sunshine), exchange factor, planet charleston, manifest discs and tapes (now monster music and movies), comfortfeet.com, and finally blackbaud. i think i got all of 'em.

things people don't know about me: crap, man, i don't know... i am a collector and i have serious mind struggles when it comes to taking my new horror movie toys out of the packaging. i would love to take them and recreate scenes from some of my favorite horror movies, but instead, i have them all packaged up nicely like the day i bought them, hanging on a peg board in my room. i also love oreo cookies with milk (did i already say that?). my favorite movie of all time ever is the shining. i wish i was born in the late 50's so that i could have enjoyed the 60's and 70's to the fullest (all i have is media that depicts that time - i can never actually know what it was like to be alive back then). i love sherlock holmes movies - any of them will do - i seem to enjoy them all. i guess that is it for now.

i now tag my sister, erin, because she is the only other person i know with a blog that will actually do this (that has not already done it).

blogtag

2008-03-06T15:47:00.001-05:00

i really need to do the blogtag thing-y that abby sent to me, before she kills me...

the apple chronicles, volume 5

2008-03-06T09:38:00.012-05:00

the gala apple

this particular gala apple is a lot like the other apples i have recently tried - mostly red with a bit of yellow scattered around. i saw these at wal-mart last week, and they had a bunch of 'em, and they all looked really good. you know, sometimes when you are looking through fruit at the store, you have to really search for a good-looking one, but i swear, all of these looked good, so i grabbed two of 'em. then julianne rolled by my desk tuesday and snaked one of 'em. so now i have this one, ready to eat. here goes!

hmmm, not bad. actually, kinda good. no tartness to this one at all, though. tastes a bit like the fuji apple that i tried last week, but not overly sweet. it is very crunchy, which gives it some points in my book. the sticker on it reads “superfreshgrowers.com - 4135 - u.s.a. - gala”. i think i will give this one a 3.5 out of 5 on the wickedly awesome apple scale (does that mean the apple is wickedly awesome, or the apple scale is wickedly awesome? heck, how am i supposed to know?).

the apple chronicles, volume 4

2008-03-03T10:24:00.002-05:00

the braeburn apple

this is the final apple from my food lion trip last week. i have had braeburn apples before, but it has been a few weeks, so i am looking at it with fresh taste buds (can taste buds see???). the sticker reads “braeburn - lg. - 4103 - washington - produce of the u.s.a”. this one in particular is a mixture of red and greenish-yellow in color. i have already started eating it, and it is just how i remember it tasting…crisp, crunchy, a bit sour, but mostly sweet. it is mildly juicy - i only had to wipe my face and hands once. it is quite good.

i give this a 4.0 out of 5 on the awesome apple scale. i shall be purchasing more of these in the future. up next are some apples i bought over the weekend - the gala and the jonagold…

the apple chronicles, volume 3

2008-02-29T11:51:00.006-05:00

the rome apple

the sticker reads “rome - 4171 - produce of the u.s.a. - “pride of new york” logo”

this is the third apple of the 4 i got at food lion. i have not tried one of these before either. the skin on this one shifts from a light red to a nice deep red. on the top where the stem usually is is a bright green patch. very attractive apple, i must say. it is already rinsed and ready to go, so here goes.

hmmm…crisp skin, more soft inside. it tastes good, but not my favorite. not overly juicy, though, and i like that. my teeth kind of slide through the innards instead of cracking off a chunk like some of the crispier apples. it’s not very sweet, like yesterday’s fuji. i think it is just a bit bland. there doesn’t seem to be any kick to it. i would probably buy more of these if the store i was at was running out of options. maybe this would taste better in an apple cobbler or pie instead of just straight up. for an occasional apple in the park, though, it would be okay. i give this one a 2.5 out of 5 on my awesome apple scale.

next up: the braeburn! (one of my recent favorites)

the apple chronicles, volume 2

2008-02-28T09:19:00.004-05:00

the fuji apple

today, i am trying the fuji apple. i have never had one of these before so i am looking forward to it. i got this one at food lion along with the pink lady i tried yesterday. the sticker on the fuji apple reads “lg. #4131 - washington - produce of the u.s.a.”. the color of this one is mostly red with a bit of yellow and green splattered around. it feels pretty firm, but as we saw with the pink lady, this could be deceiving. well, i am off to rinse it and give it a go.

(…rinsing it and giving it a go…)

wow. delicious! when i took my first bite, it felt like the skin popped as my teeth broke through. But the inside, instead of being crunchy like i was expecting, is surprisingly, well uncrunchy, i guess. it is insanely sweet and juicy as all get-out. i have to keep wiping my hands because the juice is running down my fingers. what a messy son-of-a-gun i am! i just took a bite and juice from the apple literally flew away from my face! so, the fuji apple gets a 4.0 on the awesome apple scale. i would rate it higher, but as i am finishing it, my throat is feeling a little, i don’t know, weird, i guess. i think it is safe to say that this apple is a bit too sweet, although i am sure i will buy more of these.

the apple chronicles, volume 1

2008-02-27T10:46:00.007-05:00

the pink lady

i was at food lion last night, checking out the fruit, and saw they had quite a few types of apples. i got one of each of 4 different kind (the cashier and bagger were looking at me weird, so i struck up a conversation about how i am on a quest to find the most delicious apples - they thought i was lame). the first type that i am trying is the ‘cripp’s pink’ pink lady apple. the sticker on the apple says it is grown in the u.s.a. it had a nice pink hue to it, nearing red, and some green around the top and bottom. the apple felt like it would be a bit soft. i am not a huge fan of soft apples, so i was thinking this one would not be too good.

when i bit into the apple, though, it was very crisp and sweet, and a bit tart. in other words, it was freakin’ delicious. i give this one a 4.5 out of 5 on my awesome apple scale. i will definitely be purchasing more of these. stay tuned for my next taste test, which will be either the fuji, braeburn, or rome apple (all three are waiting in my fruit bowl on my desk). yum.

holy crap...

2008-02-19T15:17:00.000-05:00

layne got a real haircut:

'the bedlam in goliath' out today!!!

2008-01-29T08:55:00.000-05:00

the mars volta release their new album the bedlam in goliath today, and i can't wait 'til 4:00 rolls around so i can get the heck out of work and to the music store! woo hoo!!!!!! i have only heard a few songs off of this album so far. i have been strong in holding off listening to the whole thing 'til i have the album in my hand. i understand it will be well worth the wait though.

there are several b-sides that they recorded to coincide with the release of this album, which are available on different import releases. all that i have run across are cover tunes by the likes of siouxsie and the banshees, the circle jerks, the sugarcubes, pink floyd, nick drake, and soft machine. i have heard all but the last two, and i must say, they all work. the versatility of these guys is amazing.

so, nobody call me for the next 3 weeks or so, because i won't hear the phone ringing. the air guitar will be a-blazin', the head will be a-bangin', and the high notes i will be a-shriekin'!

boy, am i a slacker...

2008-01-09T08:24:00.000-05:00

it has been over a month since my last post, i know. what can i say, christmas shopping and the holidays take up a lot of time. i am building a mega list of things to write about though, and only hope i can keep up. so many good things coming: the new mars volta, nick cave, and cat power albums, our trip to new york in february (which includes a siouxsie sioux show at the fillmore), seeing the cure in atlanta in june. more on all of that later. in the meantime, please check back often. i also need to post my best o' 2007 music and movie list, so you all know what i like. :)

3 posts in a row???

2007-11-25T17:52:00.000-05:00

yeah, sorry 'bout that. i had a bit of time to kill and some things to write about, so i gave ya three new posts in a row, so keep reading down further.

six things about me

2007-11-25T17:19:00.001-05:00

my pal, abby, "tagged" me and is making me write six things about myself. she won't let up until i do it, so here goes :)

1. i absolutely love horror movies. any kind is fine: bloody as heck, scary as crap, b-rated as all get-out, violent, funny-scary; it don't even matter. but mostly, i love the ones from the 50's-60's-70's, and mostly the ones that star vincent price. he was a true genius of the genre. the first movie i saw with him in it was the fall of the house of usher in 6th grade english class on a 16mm reel-to-reel projector. i absolutely fell in love and have not turned back since.

2. i love listening to music. i do it constantly, probably at least 12 hours a day, in the car on the way to work, all day at work, on the way home, while doing yardwork and housework, whenever. some of my current favorites that make regular rotation in the car and ipod are devendra banhart, elliott smith, john frusciante, and the hives. there are so many more, but these are the ones i keep going back to over and over again lately (and in the next two months, add the mars volta to the list again when their new album the bedlam in goliath comes out).

3. i love playing with my daughter, mina. she is so much fun and has given me full license to be immature and act like a kid again. and now my wife thinks it is cute instead of annoying.

4. i love to run, and would like to one day train for and run in a marathon. it just seems like a great thing to accomplish. a normal dude like me can't really say he has done amazing things in his life (i guess that is all in one's perspective), but this is one thing i would like to accomplish before i head off to that great bacon cheeseburger and french fry stand in the sky (or underground, or in my mausoleum - who really truly knows what happens after you die?).

5. i could give a crap about reaching 30. i feel no different, and i will still feel no different when i hit 40, 50, and 60 (except for being more tired and having to take more pills and stuff). it is all in how you live your life and not falling into the trappings of how getting older means not having as much fun. screw that, man. i will be the 65 year old dude at a concert with a bunch of 15 year olds. i don't give a crap (and the fact that i said that i don't give a crap twice in regards to this topic without even realizing it proves that i really don't give a crap - there goes my short-term memory...).

and finally...

6. family and friends are very important to me. my wife and daughter are the best. right now, they are upstairs and i can hear mina speaking some rambling rubbish that sounds kind of like this: "mommy! why sly zy my fy zly", and anna is saying "oh yeah? what else?" and the conversation keeps on going. i am about to go join them. my family (mom, dad, brothers, sisters) are great. we always have a great time when we are able to be together. my few close friends are the coolest. i love hanging out with them and just plain doing nothing (or playing video games/watching tv). i am a lucky guy...

update on nyx

2007-11-25T17:11:00.000-05:00

here is a photo of nyx's healing progress from her surgery. this is right at the one week mark. notice the redness is gone, the fur is growing back in, and it is looking great. she gets the staples/stitches out this coming week at her 2 week checkup. she is walking well on it and just started walking slowly up and down the stairs yesterday. she is doing quite well. one more month 'til her other leg gets operated on... what a tuff girl!

camping trip with my brothers and dad

2007-11-25T16:49:00.000-05:00

last friday night, i went on a camping trip with my 3 brothers, my brother-in-law, and my dad at cheraw state park. let me start by saying i have not been camping in at least 16 years, so i was not really looking forward to it (i have never really liked camping - i am allergic to nature). to make matters worse, we had reserved a space in the "primitive" camping area, which means no showers, no bathrooms. oh boy...

of course, we had to pick the coldest night of the year. i think it dropped down to the upper 20's that night, but we slept comfortably enough in the 8 man tent my brother, scott, brought. when i first got there with my dad, it was already around 8:00pm, so we all just sat around the campfire, talking inappropriately, roasting marshmallows, and making s'mores (mmmm...). we turned in around 12:30am and woke the next morning around 7:30am. throughout the day, we did awesome things, like play a game of football, play texas hold 'em, and play risk (the world domination board game).

we rounded off the afternoon with a 2.5 mile hike through the trails and around the lake. there was one part that was absolutely beautiful. there was a dam that created a waterfall that led down into a stream. a bridge allowed us to walk over the waterfall. with all of the leaves changing colors, and the lack of modern-day city noise/traffic, it was a little piece of heaven.

all in all, i gotta say, i had a pretty sweet time. spending time with my brothers and dad, talking rudely, eating loads of food (we had enough food to stay out there for two weeks), and freezing our butts off made for a truly great camping trip. my dad, my brother ben, and i headed back home that evening, while the other 3 stayed out there one more night (forget that!). i think we are going to try to start an annual tradition of this (isn't that what you do when you get old? start annual traditions?).

today at monster!

2007-11-13T22:20:00.001-05:00

just a quick note:

i stopped by monster music and movies today and picked up two cds. one brand-spankin' new, the other a few years old (but i just found out about it). the first one is the new one from the hives called the black and white album. woo hoo!!! i have been looking forward to this one. i have not given it a good solid listen yet, but what i have heard has been stellar.

the other disc i picked up is called the new original sonic sounds in band name and album title. it is mark arm, steve turner, and dan peters from mudhoney with two other dudes covering an album's worth of songs by a mid-60's garage band named the sonics. haven't even laid ears on this one yet, but i am quite sure i will love it. the members of mudhoney never disappoint.

and in other mudhoney news, that great indie label sub pop has just released a limited edition, vinyl only live LP called live mud. it is a recording of mudhoney in mexico city on december 10, 2005. i went to sub pop's website to purchase, but alas, it is limited to only 500 copies, and they are sold clean out. bummer, you say? ha! ebay, i say! i won a sealed copy on ebay this very afternoon for $11.99 plus 4 bucks shipping. the bonus with this one as well is that sub pop was sweet enough to include a code for downloading the whole album in mp3 format. now, i can load it on the 'ol ipod. a good day indeed in my world.

poor nyx! first day home after surgery...

2007-11-13T21:53:00.000-05:00

as some of you may know, one of our pups, nyx, injured her leg a while back. after a few vet visits, we were referred to a veterinary surgeon to have her looked at further, for she had started hobbling on both legs. after they looked at her, they determined that she had torn some ligaments in both of her knees, and both knees would require surgery if she were to ever heal. bummer!

what basically happened is that she tore some ligaments in both knees, causing the femur to slide away from the tibia when she applies too much pressure. the vet compared it to an ACL injury in a human. we dropped her off yesterday morning bright and early at 7:15 am for her first surgery, this one on her right knee. the type of surgery that was done is called a lateral suture technique. what the surgery accomplishes is the removal of any torn/shredded ligament particles, as well as the removal of any torn portion of the cushiony material, called the meniscus, from between the femur and the tibia. Then, the torn ligaments are replaced by a heavy gauge monofilament line to hold the two bones together, preventing them from sliding away from each other again.

the surgery, although quite expensive, was a great success. we currently have her on pain medication and antibiotics, but the road is long from over. we will have to help her with some daily exercises and stretches, and make sure she does not put too much pressure on it too early. she has a 2 week checkup, followed by a 4 and 6 week checkup, after which, if everything is still looking good, we will schedule her surgery for her other leg, and start all over again.

she is pretty out of it right now, but i think that is the medication. i will try to post pictures here every few days noting her progress. she sure is a trooper. she is still quite young at just under 7 years old. and she was our first pup that we could call our own, so we want her around for a long time. way to be tough, girl! ruff!

chris cornell at the house of blues - 11/07/07

2007-11-08T18:26:00.000-05:00

YES! last night, my wife and i experienced an incredible show at the house of blues in myrtle beach. chris cornell completely obliterated my ears with a most rockin' show (just after i recovered from that mudhoney show last weekend...). i will get to mr. cornell in a moment though. the opening band was a three piece from new york called earl greyhound. they put on an enjoyable show, very bluesy, soulful rock music. kinda gritty at times, but in a sexy way, you know? the female bass player and the male guitar player shared vocal duties and harmonized nicely throughout. the drummer was quite good as well, and he sure loves those cymbals! {!crash-crash-crash-crash-crash!} check 'em out.

chris cornell came out with a full band of two guitarists, a bass player, and a drummer. this tour is to promote his brand new solo album carry on, which is a great mixture of hard-driving rock and soulful tunes like only he can pull off. as i said, the show was excellent, and was sort of like a greatest-hits-by-bands-that-chris-cornell-has-fronted show. he covered all eras of his previous bands' works, from soundgarden's louder than love and badmotorfinger to temple of the dog's self-titled album to audioslave's three albums. here are the songs that i remember hearing, in no particular order:

photo courtesy of my sorta crappy camera phone

doesn't remind me, outshined, whole lotta love (led zeppelin cover), cochise, show me how to live, what you are, no such thing, hunger strike, spoonman, billie jean (yes, the michael jackson song), you know my name, loud love, slaves and bulldozers, ty cobb, and burden in my hand. and in the middle of all of that, he played the following tracks, with just him and an acoustic guitar: can't change me, thank you (another led zeppelin cover), like a stone, call me a dog, fell on black days, and he finished off the acoustic set with i am the highway, where the band joined him halfway through the song to lead back into more rockin' songs. the highlight of the evening for my wife, i know, was when they played seasons, from the singles sountrack.

photo courtesy of my sorta crappy camera phone

seem like a lot of songs? that's because they played for nearly three hours. "what???", you say? it is true. they came out at 9:00 and left the stage at 11:45. all during the show, the guitar picks were raining on the crowd, so if you were there, and you didn't get one, you must have been sleeping in the corner (anna got hit with two in the face, me with one). it is hard to believe that after all these years of constant recording and touring that his voice has held up so well (he sounds better than ever, and doesn't even flinch at hitting the high notes that he was hitting in the late 80's). he is also still in great physical shape, which most of the ladies in the crowd were admiring. an all-out excellent show. if you get a chance to see him on this tour, don't hesitate. i never forgot how much i love old soundgarden and temple of the dog, but seeing him perform these songs live took it to a whole new level for me. did i mention we got a guitar pick?

mudhoney at the 40 watt club in athens, ga

2007-11-04T16:58:00.000-05:00

holy crap! i just saw mudhoney at the 40 watt club in athens, ga last night. i took the trip alone, and it was a long drive, but it was so worth it! there were 2 opening bands (both were mostly metal sounding), the dumps and 300 cobras. they were both pretty decent. check out their myspace pages.

mudhoney rocked. plain and simple. they came out at around 12:15 and played 'til 2:00, with two encores. it was intense. i was front row, slightly-right-of center. they started the show with you got it (keep it out of my face) followed by suck you dry. after that, i can't remember the exact order, but they certainly played a great mix of classics and stuff from their latest album, under a billion suns. here are the tracks i remember distinctly:

photo courtesy of my sorta crappy camera phone

touch me i'm sick, the money will roll right in, sweet young thing (ain't sweet no more), hate the police, burn it clean, if i think, in 'n out of grace, mudride, need, into the drink, here comes sickness, it is us, where is the future, hard-on for war, and a few others that i cannot think of.

photo courtesy of my sorta crappy camera phone

these guys have been around since '89 or '90, but you wouldn't have been able to tell. mark arm's voice still sounds fantastic, and steve turner is still ripping it up on guitar. dan peters played a face-melting drum solo, and was solid throughout. i will definitely be going out of my way to see them again next time they come around. it was such a great show, one of the best i have seen in quite a while.

smashing pumpkins...

2007-11-04T16:55:00.000-05:00

my wife, anna, and i headed to atlanta this past week to see the smashing pumpkins at the fabulous fox theatre. when we got there, and checked into the hotel, we called the venue to see what time doors open. we were informed that the show had been canceled due to illness in the band.

we were sad.

the shining and rob zombie! a very good tuesday.

2007-10-24T19:32:00.000-05:00

this past tuesday was an extra exciting one for me. not only did rob zombie's live cd, entitled simply zombie live, come out, but a 2-disc special edition of my-favorite-movie-of-all-time-ever, the shining, also came out. i hurried out and bought both the moment i got off of work.

the rob zombie live album is nothing short of amazing. the sound quality is excellent, the music kills, as always, rob's voice sounds so awesome, even though i can't figure out for the life of me how he screams like that the whole show; just a great album. hopefully a live dvd will follow shortly as well. zombie and the band cover lots of ground in this set. you hear songs from white zombie's la sexorcisto and astro creep: 2000, and songs from all three of rob's solo records. here is a complete track listing:

sawdust in the blood
american witch
demon speeding
living dead girl
more human than human
dead girl superstar
house of 1000 corpses
let it all bleed out
creature of the wheel
demonoid phenomenon
supercharger heaven
never gonna stop (the red, red kroovy)
black sunshine
superbeast
devil's rejects
the lords of salem
thunderkiss '65
dragula

as for the shining, i thought i had all i was ever going to get for this movie, with the dvd release in 2001 that had a great documentary shot by stanley kubrick's daughter, vivian kubrick. this release, along with it being presented in widescreen format, adds a second disc with three additional featurettes: view from the overlook: crafting the shining, the visions of stanley kubrick, and interview with wendy carlos, composer. i usually don't get excited about all the so-called bonus footage on dvds these days, because it usually takes up an extra hour of my precious sleep time after the movie is over, and i don't hardly ever get anything from it except maybe a few minor laughs. with this, though, i could watch 10 extra hours of bonus footage and never tire of it.

i won't talk about the movie itself - if you haven't seen this, climb your sorry self from under your rock and watch it as soon as possible. i mean, come on, halloween is right around the corner, so you should be loading up on all the scary movies you can get your hands on. you can even borrow my old dvd copy (are you kidding, of course i am not getting rid of that one - it is full-frame!). i will be watching this as soon as i have nearly 4 hours of spare time to watch all of it at once. i can't wait!

the shins with vetiver @ the plex - 10/18/07

2007-10-21T19:37:00.000-05:00

i attended a show at the plex in north charleston the other night that was quite excellent. vetiver was the name of the opening band. the shins were the headlining band. vetiver were a surprise opener to me, because the very day before the show, i found out that the lead singer of the band has worked and toured with a current favorite of mine, devendra banhart, in the past. so, i was very much looking forward to seeing him perform with his band. they did not disappoint. their set was comprised mostly of beautiful, slow-tempo songs. his voice is quite good, and the band are talented musicians. they are touring to support their second album, to find me gone. also, one member of the shins (the keyboard/guitar player, the blonde dude in the second picture below) joined them for a few tunes.

photo courtesy of james petit

the shins put on an excellent performance as well. i admit, i am not the biggest fan of the shins (my wife simply adores them, though), but i did thoroughly enjoy their show. it could have something to do with the fact that my wife and her best friend/cousin, mei-lan, were dancing excitedly the whole show, or maybe because the band just put on a really good show. the first 10 songs or so, i did not recognize, but i aimlessly grooved along to them. then they played new slang, which i first heard while watching the excellent movie garden state, and phantom limb, the first single from their latest album wincing the night away. great songs, even better live.

photo courtesy of james petit

they continued on, playing a few more that i sorta recognized. when they came out for the encore, they played a cover of pink floyd's breathe from dark side of the moon, complete with mini-laser light show, which blew the doors down. the place was packed, the crowd had a great time, i had a great time, and it seems that the bands also had a great time.

i could have done without the smoky atmosphere - i think i am getting too old for all of that second-hand smoke. now, if they can just pass the smoking ban in north charleston, as well, shows at the plex would be so much more enjoyable. anywho, if you get a chance to see either one of these bands, please do so. and listen to their music. as always, if you like it, support the artists and buy it legally. thanks for reading!

an acoustic hour with alice in chains

2007-10-14T11:24:00.001-05:00

my friend, shane and i traveled to the house of blues last night to see an acoustic performance by alice in chains, billed as alice in chains, the acoustic hour: an intimate unplugged engagement. needless to say, we were both quite excited, for how often can you see an entire acoustic show from one of your favorite bands of all time? for me, this is my first opportunity.

The opening act, which also played an acoustic set, was called social ghost. while at first, i was not too keen on the music, as the show progressed, the band's excitement was contagious, and i ended up enjoying their set. check them out to see what you think.

when alice in chains came on stage, they brought with them a feel-good atmosphere, which transferred to the crowd immediately and added to everyone's already high spirits. all members were in top form. jerry cantrell played some great solos, missing a note occasionally, but each time laughing it off, as if to just say "oops!". i am sure nobody will be complaining. his voice was also sounding great. william duvall, who has become an official member of the band, taking over lead vocals, was excellent, hitting all of the notes, and sounding good doing it. mike inez and his bass were certainly excited to be there. the big smile didn't leave his face the whole show. sean kinney was, well, sean kinney - a totally sweet drummer.

photo courtesy of aliceinchains.com

they started the show with nutshell, from their ep jar of flies. after that i don't remember the exact order, but here are the other songs they performed in album order (i think i remember them all):

i can't remember and love, hate, love from facelift
brother and got me wrong from their acoustic ep sap
rooster, angry chair, down in a hole, and would from their album dirt
got me wrong and don't follow from jar of flies
heaven beside you and sludge factory from their self-titled album
killer is me which was performed on their 1996 mtv unplugged album

they also included two cover songs:
elton john's curtains from his 1975 album captain fantastic and the brown dirt cowboy
the who's squeeze box from their 1975 album the who by numbers

there were a few teasers, when they broke into the doors' love me two times and david bowie's ziggy stardust. those would have been excellent additions, had they kept going with them. the band invited about 50 people to come up on the side of the stage to watch the encore close-up. what an excellent gesture. from a band that has been around so long, they still appreciate their fans, and it certainly shows. many bands that i have seen live just come out, play their songs, and leave the stage. i really respect these guys.

anyways, i enjoyed the show immensely, and as a lucky bonus, i got a guitar pick that jerry cantrell tossed into the crowd. i will add that to my soon-to-be-created concert memorabilia scrapbook! seeing the band this happy playing together again has made me hopeful of new material in the near future. if you have a chance to see this small acoustic tour, please do yourself a favor and go. the band makes it well worth it.

i think i have a shoe problem

2007-10-11T19:27:00.000-05:00

i have known about my shoe problem ...er... collection for some time now. you know, over the years, after your feet stop growing, and you take care of your shoes, and you are somewhat fashionably inclined (in your own mind), you amass a few pair a year. i knew i had a lot, but not an exact amount until the other day, when my cubemate at work, katie, said to me, "new shoes? it seems like you always have new shoes. how many do you have?". "i'm not sure", was my reply, so i counted them a day or so later. i was not quite shocked, but a bit surprised to find that i had somehow managed to collect 48 or so pair of shoes. and i am a dude, albeit a very fashionable one (again, in my own mind).

48 pair...holy cow.

now, my wife has quite a collection as well, but she is in the shoe business, so it makes sense. my friend nichols, another shoe fanatic, put it in perspective for me. "we just build our outfits from the bottom up, while everyone else builds from the top down." well said, madam!

my real collection had its humble beginnings while i was in high school, where i developed a love of converse. from there on out, i have just bought a pair here and there. basically, if i see a color that i really like, that is loud and bright, or just plain ol' sweet lookin', i buy 'em! chuck taylors, one stars, jack purcells, john varvatos-designed styles, ev pros. and they come from everywhere - marshall's, tj maxx, the converse outlet, shops in chicago and atlanta. i even found a very unique pair while we were vacationing in london a few years ago, that i have yet to wear, because they are so awesome, and i am worried i will mess 'em up (you can see them in the picture below, in the bottom row, third pair from the left). i have other brands, but converse outweighs the other brands by a long shot.

there are canvas, suede, corduroy, felt (yes, felt), even pleather. the above pictures show about half of the converse i own (don't want to take up too much space with pictures). i am proud of my collection, and i don't care if people at work think i am mental. what do they know? they only have 4 pair of shoes each! how on earth can you coordinate a sweet matching outfit with only 4 pair of shoes???

radiohead turns the tables on album format offerings

2007-10-08T16:38:00.000-05:00

radiohead has always been an inventive band. each album they have released, from 1993's pablo honey to 2003's hail to the thief, has offered the listener something completely different from the last album, yet equally as listenable (my only exception here is 2000's kid a - no matter how many times i listen to it, halfway through, i forget i was listening to it - it just sounds like background music to me...).

with the next album, even though i haven't heard any of it yet, they are continuing with their innovative streak. the album, entitled in rainbows, is currently available for preorder in 2 formats: downloadable digital format and deluxe edition "discbox". why is that so innovative, you ask? well, they are allowing us, the consumer, to preorder (available oct. 10th) the downloadable digital format for whatever price we choose. yes, that means we can download it for free - straight from the source (after some research, it appears that a transaction fee may be tacked onto the final price - probably to those who specify a value of £0.00 - who could blame 'em?). now any self-respecting music lover that cherishes the bands they love, and respects them as artists, will not download it for free, but hey, the opportunity is there, approved by the band. pretty cool.

the other option, the "discbox", as it is called, will be released on or before december 3rd, and can be preordered for £40.00...what????? hang on, let's see, in u.s. dollars that would be...$81.74 as of today. but wait, let me explain further. at first, i thought this was just some insanely priced special edition cd/dvd set in a hard-bound box or something. upon further inspection, though, i realized that it is going to come with a load of cool stuff, such as the album on cd, a second cd with several extra new tracks, the vinyl version of the album (2 x 12") on heavyweight vinyl, lots of artwork, a lyric booklet, all presented in a beautiful hardback book. wow. i should also note that the digital download is included, so the consumer can still have the music in october when everyone else does. check out the picture below.

photo courtesy of http://www.inrainbows.com

i have added this to my christmas list already with a heavy hint that it should not be ignored (and if my wife is reading this - i really, really think this would be an excellent christmas present...really). i think we should all support this crazy idea, because it looks to be a win-win situation, whether you like to download your music or buy the physical album (i prefer the latter, obviously). yeah, radiohead!

nirvana unplugged to arrive on dvd (...sigh...)

2007-10-06T21:40:00.000-05:00

man, have i been waiting for this for a long time. nirvana's mtv unplugged performance is finally getting it's long-awaited official release on november 20th. all of these years of putting off buying the bootleg dvd in hopes that it will arrive in an official form have finally paid off.

the dvd will have the entire unedited performance, including the songs 'something in the way' and 'oh me' (one of the most beautiful songs in the set) that were originally cut from the aired performance. there will also be some behind-the-scenes footage, and a few warm-up performances. s-w-e-e-t.

with good music and movie releases tapering off again in my world, at least i know where i will be on november 20th, and that is comforting.

new releases to which i am looking forward...

2007-09-29T15:53:00.000-05:00

next tuesday (october 2nd) is an exciting one for me and my wife, anna, as there are two releases that we are very much looking forward to purchasing. pj harvey has a new one coming entitled white chalk, which should be really sweet. she has consistently put out excellent albums since the early nineties. i can't wait to hear it. for your listening pleasure, there is a chilling new track on her myspace page called "when under ether".

high on anna's list for sure is the new solo album from siouxsie. you heard it right, siouxsie is back yet again, as if she ever left. apparently, she has announced her divorce with banshees and creatures drummer and collaborator, budgie, and she is going at it alone, or at least without him. You can listen to samples of a few tracks from the new album on her official site.

later down the line, in november, the hives release the black and white album. very good to see them back. listen to their new single tick tick boom right away.

new releases - september 25th

2007-09-28T21:54:00.000-05:00

a few noteworthy releases to help you make 'til october:

the foo fighters have returned to rock your face off with their latest effort echoes, silence, patience and grace. definitely check this one out, as well as their sweet video for the pretender.

iron and wine has released a new album entitled the shepherd's dog. it is more upbeat music-wise than his previous efforts, drawing from his recent efforts with calexico, i believe, but this is not a bad thing. his voice is as soft and strong as ever, and there are some really good tunes here.

the last thing i picked up this past tuesday was the new one from a new favorite of mine, devendra banhart entitled smokey rolls down thunder canyon. this latest effort includes many songs that seem to call back to his hispanic heritage (he was raised in venezuela), and i swear even includes a gospel track. this is one weird cat, but he makes some really beautiful music that i love to sing along with.

air guitar rules my world!

2007-09-28T21:27:00.001-05:00

two nights ago, i watched the documentary air guitar nation. wow! wowee-wow-wow! i was blown away. not only was i blown away that there is a legitimate competition out there for this art form - and yes! it is an art form! - but there are others out there that are just as pumped about it as i am. i have found my people!

the documentary covers the 2003 u.s. and world air guitar championships, and closely follows two of the main u.s. contenders, björn türoque and c-diddy. you must watch to understand...

i have been air guitaring for roughly the last 20 or so years. it started with hits from the 80's, such as the wicked riff in michael jackson's "beat it" to the sexy licks of "walk this way" by run-d.m.c. and aerosmith. it continues to this day, while driving, standing in my living room, sitting at my desk at work listening to my ipod, basically any time i hear a riff or solo that gets my soul moving. today, i nearly lost my balance and fell over when air guitaring one of the many solos in the mars volta's "cassandra geminni" suite from their album frances the mute. awesome.

so, i skedaddled over to the u.s. air guitar championships website and registered to receive more information, as it becomes available, about the 2008 competition. oh yes, i plan on doing my best to enter next year, and the training starts now!

krist novoselic, politically speaking

2007-09-28T20:58:00.000-05:00

krist novoselic has written a book to express many of his political ideas and views. i know i am a bit late on this, as the book was published in 2004, but i bought it recently and gave it a read. i am not a politically minded person by any means, but the book, entitled "of grunge and government: let's fix this broken democracy!" is a fairly easy read, even if you do not quite grasp the world of politics in great depth.

of the many things he discusses throughout the book, one thing that stands out to me is when he talks about the positive ideal, which he describes in the following way:

"why kick around the argument of being against censorship when you can advocate for freedom of expression? why disparage violence when you can promote peace? essentially, the positive ideal is about advancing the possibilities."

he only affords a partial chapter to his time in nirvana, also discussing some of the political actions that came about during that time, such as mtv's rock the vote campaign and a fundraiser headlined by nirvana to oppose "ballot measure 9", which proposed institutionalizing discrimination against gays and lesbians.

one of my favorite quotes from the book, which he writes while stressing the importance of independence and freedom in our country today, reads:

"...people expressing their independence are slapped down by scoundrels draped in red, white, and blue."

The book clocks in at just over 100 pages, so it is a short read. if you don't feel like buying it, maybe check it out from the library, or you can borrow my copy. just ask.

amiina = so beautiful

2007-09-28T20:44:00.000-05:00

amiina is a band made up of four icelandic women in their mid-twenties. their latest release, kurr, is made up of magnificent instrumentals, that i cannot seem to get enough of. they do not use many traditional instruments, but employ a strange assortment of things they have found in second-hand shops, or just create their instruments themselves. this makes for some very interesting and beautiful moments. as i listen, i find myself thinking, "...what could be making that sound? or that one? oooh, that one is nice!...". indeed! and what style!

please do check out their music. you can have a listen to a few tracks on their myspace page.

missing kids screensaver...

2007-08-14T17:30:00.001-05:00

i was reading a few articles on cnn.com last week and ran across one that really interested me, as i thought it was a great idea. take the old "missing children" thing that we used to see all over milk cartons, make it a downloadable screensaver that is updated regularly, help find more missing kids. sounds like a great idea to me, so i thought i would share. the screensaver was developed by Global Software Applications, in cooperation with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

here is how it works. you go to www.missingkidsaver.com and download the screensaver for free. when your screensaver pops up, it cycles through missing children profiles. it is tailored to your area, so you shouldn't see profiles for children missing in alaska, for instance. it uses your internet connection to gather the latest information so it is always up-to-date. see their FAQ page here for more details.

the program takes seconds to download with hi-speed internet and another few seconds to install. give it a try and let me know what you think.

halloween remake - oh man!

2007-08-07T17:09:00.001-05:00

august 31st marks the theatrical release of rob zombie's remake of the classic horror movie 'halloween'. if you have seen any of rob's other movies, you will know that this will be a killer remake. it stars a few people that appear in his other movies, such as his lovely wife, sheri moon zombie, danny trejo, and lew temple.

any fan of good ol' classic horror movies from the 70's, such as 'the texas chainsaw massacre' or 'the amityville horror' will certainly appreciate mr. zombie's vision. not only is he an excellent director, but you can tell he is a rabid fan of horror.

his past movie's, 'house of 1000 corpses' and 'the devil's rejects' were both instant classics in my library, and i still watch them frequently. the viewer tends to grow to sympathize with the characters, no matter how evil, rude, and brutal they may be. i have no doubt that the same will happen with this remake of 'halloween' (well maybe i will sympathize with the 10-year-old michael myers).

i will definitely be there opening weekend with my friend, chris, as we have made a sort of unspoken tradition of seeing mr. zombie's movies in the theatre as soon as we can both be there. in the meantime, while you, chris and i are waiting for that day, watch the trailers over and over again.

for an alternate trailer, click here. woo hoo!!!!!

juliana hatfield & frank smith collaborate

2007-07-31T19:27:00.000-05:00

juliana hatfield's latest project finds her teaming with country/folk band frank smith. a six-song ep entitled 'sittin' in a tree...' was released a few weeks back and is available for purchase at juliana's website, the ye olde records website, or from your local music store that gives a crap about good music.

juliana hatfield has been one of my favorite artist's for years and years, and i can honestly say that she has never done anything quite like this before. i won't go into detail about each track, but will say that it could easily fall under the category of what they call 'alt-country', or whatever they are grouping ryan adams and son volt into these days.

some of the tracks have a very country music feel to them, with hints of a banjo and slide guitar here and there. but juliana's touch is ever-present in the lyrics and the vocal stylings. this is a far move from her last full-length disc, 'made in china', but it is a nice change of direction. since this is probably a one-off recording with frank smith (the band), we will probably see the old ms. hatfield returning in all her glory on her next album.

in the meantime though, until that next album comes, get your fix with this ep. also, look for her live cd 'the white broken line', officially released in june of this year.

new iron & wine single

2007-07-31T16:47:00.000-05:00

iron & wine (singularly sam beam) has returned with a single from his forthcoming album 'the shepherd's dog', out on sub pop in september. the single is the kind that i used to get so excited about: the domestic single that does not cost $9.99 and above. i bought this one for four bucks at monster music and movies in charleston, sc. so that alone was a bonus for me (not to mention that i knew there was an excellent chance i would love the tunes as well).

the single features a new song, 'boy with a coin', from the album mentioned above. it also boasts 2 (yes, 2!) unreleased b-sides. the first of the b-sides is called 'carried home', and it is beautifully presented with a mix of acoustic guitar, banjo, piano, and bass guitar (among others, i'm sure). the vocal harmonies are lovely as well.

'boy with a coin' comes in as the second track. it has a faster pace than most of his songs, but it is a nice direction, i think. there are hand claps serving as percussion throughout. this adds a more constructed feel to the song. again, the vocal harmonies are lovely.

the final track is 'kingdom of the animals', a bouncy tune with a dance-y piano. nice sounds throughout this one. the bass guitar stands out in this recording, as it also does in the other two songs, making me wonder if the direction with this new album will have the feel of a band playing the music (sort of like what he did with calexico a while back), instead of the slow and quiet music of many of his past recordings.

this is a good cd for the money, and makes me anxious to hear the whole album when it is released. if you have been a fan of his past works, give this one a shot, too.

the white stripes, myrtle beach, sc

2007-07-30T10:37:00.001-05:00

photo courtesy of jim lawhead

the white stripes played at the house of blues last night in myrtle beach, sc. i went with my wife, and friends, charles and leah. the tension has been building up for this show for months now, since tickets went on sale. the venue is pretty decent, the band is freakin' sweet, and it is only 2 hours away. so, needless to say, i was pretty pumped.

the opening act was a fella named dan sartain. i was quite impressed with his music. he played good solid rock music with hints of rockabilly and the blues. i suggest checking him out. it is well worth a listen. he played for about 35 minutes with his band.

promptly at 9:00, the white stripes took the stage, beginning their set with the insanely rockin' 'icky thump', their lead single from the album of the same name. it was bliss.

throughout the show, mr. white displayed some frustration. whether it was with his guitar not staying in tune or just not wanting to play the song that they started playing, it showed during the middle of the set. however, things picked back up as the show moved along. mr. white switched effortlessly between multiple instruments, sometimes switching back and forth during a verse or chorus multiple times. the man is extremely talented.

unfortunately, from where we were standing, we could only see meg's arms as she was playing. she was partially hidden behind a stack of speakers. her drumming was spot on, though, and when she came out and sang 'cold, cold night', from their album 'elephant', it was a thing of beauty.

they covered a good span of music from their career, but focused mostly on newer tracks. the highlight of the show, in my opinion, was 'i'm slowly turning into you'. jack screamed the chorus like the fate of his soul depended on it. it was intense.

another highlight for me was 'the union forever', probably my favorite white stripes tune of all. i was hoping they wouldn't stop playing it in the middle and start a different song, which they did a few times during the show, but they played it to the end, and it was a beauty (sigh.). a few songs were left out from the set that they usually play live, like 'astro' and 'jolene'. i would have loved to experience those live.

anyways, it was overall a great show, albeit a bit schizophrenic at times, but what can be expected?

yeah yeah yeahs 'is is' ep - a return to form

2007-07-26T07:50:00.000-05:00

the yeah yeah yeahs are back with an excellent 5 song ep. a few of the tracks were performed live and put on their 'rockers to swallow' dvd that came out over a year ago. they were rerecorded in the studio for this ep. the other two are brand new, never-before-released. a fine collection, for sure.

'rockers to swallow' sounds as if it could be (and very well may be) an outtake from their early days. it is gritty, noisy, and crazy. it actually reminds me a bit of the song in the movie 'high fidelity' by the kinky wizards (those skateboard kids), which i think is actually done by royal trux. i think it is just how the vocals sound. easily the most rockin' song on the ep.

'down boy' makes me think of what would happen if 'fever to tell' yyys jumped into a blender with 'show your bones' yyys and hit puree. it is quite a lovely tune, with karen o switching effortlessly between smooth, sweet vocals during the verses and her trademark high-pitched squeals during the choruses. a bit of organ or keyboard is mixed in as well.

'kiss kiss' is straight-forward, fast-paced rock. i like this one a lot. it builds up throughout the song, then stops short, allowing karen o to finish it off with a bit of a cappella.

'isis' starts out a bit tame, but ends with lots of heavy guitar, cymbal crashes, and screaming. lovely.

'10 x 10' is a great song as well, although a bit tame. it works well to end this small collection of songs, though. it builds up a bit near the end, then it fades out with nick zinner's tinny one-note guitar picking.

do yourself a favor and pick this one up. it is available at your friendly neighborhood independent music store, i am sure, for under $7. no excuses! besides, have they ever let you down before?

family reunion in west virginia

2007-07-25T20:31:00.000-05:00

well, a week and a half ago, anna, mina, and i traveled up to west virginia with my parents and younger sister, sarah, to attend the annual harvey family reunion. this year, we decided to have it at the local bowling alley. my family has a long history with the sport of bowling, one that carries on in my veins to this day, so i was quite excited about the reunion this year (not to mention that it was not going to be outdoors in the sweltering heat!).

i got to practice my form, whilst in heavy competition with my dad, as anna and mina watched from the sidelines (anna has this highly irrational fear that if she bowls, she will instantly grow fringes on her clothes and have mall wall, then start square-dancing or something). anywho, we had lots of fun.

we then went traveling through the mountains to visit the harvey memorial freewill baptist church, a church started by my great grandfather (or maybe it is great-great grandfather). after about 30 minutes of winding mountain roads at break-neck speeds and near vomiting, we reached our destination, all persons fully intact, and visited a few graves of old family members.

we hung around for a while and had a good time. there were a few outhouses, which we don't see too many of here in charleston anymore, so that was pretty sweet. they were fragrant to say the least. i won't include a picture of the inside of one of these, to spare those that are weak in the stomach.

finally, we went to another cemetery to visit my grandfather's grave. he died in 2003 at the tender age of 77. he was a sweet, feisty fella, and i still miss him greatly. it is a true shame that my daughter will never know him.

overall, we had a pretty dang good time, although it only lasted 2.5 days (that includes the 7+ hour trip each way), and i must applaud anna and mina for making it through the trip without a single complaint. well, mina complained a little bit, but she just is a baby! we look forward to next year's big event.

addendum to previous smashing pumkins post

2007-07-23T10:19:00.000-05:00

i got my tickets in the mail saturday, and they are in row GG instead of row G as i had originally hoped. so we will be 33 rows back instead of 7. bummer...

natalie dee

2007-07-22T19:32:00.000-05:00

a friend emailed me a funny one-panel comic of sorts the other day, along with a link to other one-panel comics by the same artist. the artist's name is natalie dee.

i have to say that after looking at her site, and laughing hysterically, that she is brilliant. the cartoons are drawn with the innocence of a child, but usually include irreverent humor (i am a huge fan of that!). she created a character for herself that she uses in most of the comics, but also includes funny looking animals or monsters, and usually includes a curse word or two.

some people may think that it is childish humor, but duh, i think that is the point. there are lots of archived comics dating back to 2002, so dig in and prepare to have a few laughs.

a moment of silence... R.I.P. guaninator

2007-07-17T15:43:00.000-05:00

today, my iguana 'guaninator' passed away. i have had her for 7 years.

i found her in an office i was working in, which was on king street in charleston, sc. it was in the attic of a shoe store. my friend, dasan, and i had torn the old shelves down in the attic and built an office complete with wood-paneled walls, a floating ceiling, and fluorescent lighting. we also hung a curtain in front of a door that lead to where the air-conditioner for the building was located.

i was working alone one day in the office and kept hearing noises behind me, but when i turned around, nothing was there. needless to say, i was getting a bit freaked out. finally, after a series of scratches and scurrying noises, i turned around to find an iguana hanging onto the curtain. she was just hanging there using her claws to hold on. i had never encountered an iguana before, so i was even more freaked out.

we have been friends ever since...

my friend, geoff (a very skilled woodworker and cabinetmaker), and i built a nice wooden lid with built-in doors for a 7 foot long display case that i have had forever. a divider was placed in the center to make 2 cages, one for the iguana and one for my box turtle, ester. everything has been rolling along fine ever since.

i noticed she had not been eating as much over these past 2 weeks, and her skin color slowly has changed from a bright green to a shade of light brown. after doing some research into this on the internet to see what the cause could be, i decided to make an appointment to take her to the vet. the appointment was for 4 o'clock today. when i got home to put her in the travel cage that i used to use for my ferret 'dogg' (r.i.p. also), i reached in to pet her in the way that makes her close her eyes, lift her head, and become immediately chill (i am the only person that can calm her down with voice or a head pet), but she did not lift her head. she had passed away sometime between this morning at 7 o'clock and this afternoon at 3 o'clock.

i am very sad. i look in her empty cage and feel even more sad. she was a bit insane at times, but she was very cute with beautiful turquoise and green markings, and she made me smile with her funny head-bobbing. i will miss her dearly. sleep well, sweet guan.

smashing pumpkins have returned with a new album

2007-07-17T10:11:00.000-05:00

so, the new smashing pumpkins album "zeitgeist" is out. instead of going to best buy, target, and itunes to purchase the album 3 times for 3 different bonus tracks, i bought the version with the 76 page book, which cost me $27 at my local independent music store, which i whole-heartedly support (the bonus tracks can be accumulated from other friend's purchases down the line, hopefully). the book is pretty sweet, but i am not sure it is $17 extra worth of sweet. the music is brilliant. when i listened to the first 2 tracks, i was swept back to my mid-to-late teens on a magic carpet that flies on the wings of totally wicked fuzzed-out distorted guitar and jimmy chamberlin's always magnificent drumming. i was thinking, "they are back!... well, 2 of them are back anyways. woo hoo!!!".

i find out the same day that the pumpkins are playing in atlanta on october 30th at the beautiful fox theatre. tickets were to go on sale thursday, the 12th of july. i think to myself, awesome! i will buy tickets on that day. then i go to ticketmaster’s website to see how much i will be soaked for a pair of tickets, but not caring. it is then that i find out that the itunes presale starts on the 12th and lasts until friday the 13th at 10:00pm (so basically 2 whole days). what that means, is that i had to prepurchase the music from itunes prior to the release date to get the itunes presale password so i can get tickets 2 days before they go on sale to the general public (because the general public is so much more unimportant than the itunes music purchaser, right?).

so because i bought the actual $27 deluxe edition instead of buying the tunes digitally, i was being punished, and i knew for a fact that i would get crappy seats to the show, because everyone else probably bought it from itunes (coincidentally, i ordered tickets on saturday, the 14th, and got great seats - at least i think i did; i will need to verify that when the tickets actually arrive in the mail - but that is not the point!). {back to my rant}---

and at that point, i couldn't even bite the bullet and buy it on itunes just to get the passcode either, because it had to be a preorder.

SON OF A…!!!!!!

so, basically, because i bought the deluxe edition that cost almost 3x what the others cost, i was getting screwed out of 3 bonus tracks and a passcode to buy tickets early.

what they should have done is this:

one edition that is a standard format - 12 songs
the second, deluxe edition, would have the 76 page booklet, three bonus tracks, and a slip of paper inside with a unique passcode for preordering the tickets for their 2007 tour.

that is worth the $27 price tag. why should people who preordered the album from a certain place (itunes) get the front-of-the-line privilege when there are people that spent a boatload of money for the deluxe edition? the consumer should be rewarded for supporting the band, not for supporting the store that the band’s CD was bought from. if i was the record company, i would have pushed more for people to buy the deluxe edition vs the standard edition, instead of trying to get people to buy the $10 edition from some big box retail store. complete bull$hit.

anywho, buy the album because it is good. see them in concert if you can. but man, these shenanigans make even the die-hard fan wonder what the hell they were thinking. urgh!

the mars volta: my most anticipated release of the year

2006-09-12T18:36:00.000-05:00

hail the long awaited return of the mars volta (well, technically their last album came out about a year and a half ago, but it seems like forever to me). their new album, amputechture hit stores today, and i am the most excited boy on the planet.

i won't go into detail about each individual song, but the album is 8 tracks long and clocks in at just over 77:00 minutes. it is a masterpiece from start to finish in this writer's humble opinion. cedric bixler-zavala's vocals soar to heights that i have never heard him reach, and the voice is strong throughout. the tag-team guitar stylings of omar rodriguez-lopez and john frusciante are mezmerizing. frusciante apparently plays the majority of the guitar on the album (or so the rumor goes), so that omar can focus on the production aspect. however, i can certainly hear omar's style all over the album. all in all, i recommend the album highly, and it is probably on sale for dirt cheap at most local independent record stores this week, so go buy it now (or if you like itunes...).

1. vicarious atonement
2. tetragrammation
3. vermicide
4. meccamputechture
5. asilos magdalena
6. viscera eyes
7. day of the baphomets
8. ciervo vulnerado

they are currently on tour with the red hot chili peppers, so be sure to attend. it will be an amazing show indeed.

so, if you see me driving around or sitting at my computer at work, and i am air-guitaring like no other, you can rest assured it is probably the wailing of this new album that is fueling the uncontrollable actions, including the guitar face that will be on display. you know what i mean...