Day 539: where have I been (or) I'm so not 29 anymore

Wow what an interesting 10 months this has been. Maybe I'll break it down little chunks at a time. Either way I am now armed with my very own blogger app and a desire to be decidedly less ambivalent toward this undertaking. I will say this: I have read books, listened to killer tunes, hopefully written some killer tunes, played some bad shows--but they were shows, loved my wife, love my kids which incidentally includes the new little appleseed, saw some killer shows, made some great friends, and even saw some amazing movies too! Through it all God has shown himself to be alive and active, if complex and oft confounding, each step of the way.

Man it feels nice outside!

Driving music:

day 229: i viddy a skorry tolchock to the gulliver (or) has he been reading "a clockwork orange" again?!?!?!

the rundown:

>books read:

-shopgirl-steve martin
-called to coach-bobby bowden
-a clockwork orange-anthony burgess

> next up...how not to live-brett foster

> black friday was beyond lame

> cyber monday was apparently related and carries similar family traits

> one of my favorite people in jax is moving to portland [RIP yr darcy & the squiers]

> christmas is turning out to be super killer and cold as well

> band room is rearranged to better facilitate creativity

> new tunes coming soon from every corner of my brain

> i totally found 2 stores near me that deal in skyline chili

> cartoons don't stop child abuse but they sure are cool to relive

> yeah i know this one sucked but hey i am at least trying to stay on the wagon...


driving music:

sometimes you have to work on christmas sometimes-harvey danger




it's a shame about ray-the lemonheads




hey sandy-polaris [theme to the adventures of pete and pete]




tiny tree christmas-guster




within your reach-the replacements

day 4: "the quaalude thunder goes here" (or) frank zappa is quite possibly the coolest musician of all time...

so i am now in the second week of my quest to read a book a week for the rest of my life; naturally i chose breakfast of champions [vonnegut] for the first week, and, equally as naturally, the follow-up had to be the real frank zappa book [zappa]. the following excerpt is all one really needs to understand why this is RIVETING reading:

"'the quaalude thunder goes here.' that's the shorthand description of a drum fill you would hear on certain haevy metal albums-where the guy plays as many notes as he can on all of his thousand tom-toms before he ends with the big crash."

in a word...yes.



the rundown part un:

> a book a week for...ever?! [crossed fangers]

> conan! back with a vengeance

> yr darcy [http://yrdarcy.bandcamp.com/] great songwriter i know.

> fried turkey in t-minus 12 days and counting...gobble gobble pilgrims!

> i love yard sales and thrift stores in a non-fixed-gear-bike-rider kind of way?!?!

> i really want a store that carries cassette tapes...

> ...speaking of cassettes-seriously people! STOP TOSSING THEM IN THE TRASH! DBL.WTFF

> 2 thumbs up 2 the book of eli, robin hood, and solitary man.

> i really REALLY want the rivera designed fender super 60 i keep seeing on craigslist

driving music:



namaste

day...?!..er...uh...1?!-you like how i did that?!?!?! (or) they say you can't go back, yet look how i just told "they" to taste it...

it may be known to those who know me best that my foray into this "second life" of mine here in jax has been a tad more painful than i would have ever have presumed. one could definitely use the term "lost" to describe the past few months of my experiment on this hallowed ground we call earth. i have learned a few things, subsequently forgotten several of said things and thus am on the path of learning them again-hopefully n'er to be so easy displaced. [fingers crossed].

this past week has seen the desperate realization that on the eve of my 7 year celebration of marraige, that we would NOT, in fact, be able to have our first true evening alone together in a solid year, so we took our 2 little ones with us to goof off at the burrito gallery and various thrift stores-and it honestly was one of the most fun days we have had in our time in jax. all hallows eve was none too shabby either. jess my lovely bride [and resident bassist] and myself also found that angles was simply not going to work with her in it-too much stretching can be bad for the health regardless of what yoga says. i have had great conversations with best friends and those who could easily fit into that category, and i am even playing guitar at a show for a cool dude who i met at my fav dining establishment .

[life] meet lemons.
[lemons] oh hi how are you?
[me]how's it going there, eh? have you met my friends pitcher, water,sugar, and spoon?
[lemons] i haven't. (to friends) glad to know you.
[friends] likewise i'm sure.
{good times had, beverages birthed}...

...{and scene}

i have found beauty in the chaos of humanity through the voice of vonnegut [breakfast of champions]; i was able to enjoy a chance encounter with one of my favorite human beings, bobby bowden; maybe its the cold, maybe its time of year, maybe it was memphis, but i feel like i have found a spark again. like maybe all the hoping and wishing and planning and scheming and ________ing have reached a point where they seem to be more than ghosts of reality, like they are ACTUALLY on the horizon. and maybe i am oversentimental. either way...

...in the midst of what can only be described as the political equivalent to the outbreak and subsequent discovery of mad cow disease [in other words, theres a lot of crazy going around currently in this fine country of ours], i have found a unique revelry in this crazy world and its crazy inhabitants, and i am so in awe of the Creator that has allowed me to be able to, by His grace alone, immerse myself in the joys of His most precious creation.

in closing, this week i get coco back, frank zappa is regaling me on a daily basis with his fanatical insight and wacky anectdotes, theres vinyl, theres cold, theres pipes, theres burley and black, and theres plenty of good reasons to throw caution to wind, fire up the flux capacitor, and head back to the future!

here's a litte driving music...

day 64: "bring back the good times, i think that would be just fine..." (or) bleach is reuniting?!

kidd video=yes!



levar burton is the coolest man ever.



80's cartoon camp!



hey karen i still remeber every lyric-sad or impressive?!?!



yes this show really existed!



the reason behind low scores in u.s. schools-this show is no longer on tv!



special delivery!



the things that make you go hmmm.



ferris who?!



greatest. commercial. ever.



i guess "airborne" was a box office dud...



and the best for last...enjoy!

day 56: late night w/ jimmy fallon-as metaphor for my life (or) someone should manufacture a ?uestlove shirt in the vein of "the" bob ross shirt...

it sounds silly for sure but the way i see it is like this. mr. fallon started off a little wet behind the ears. his bits were awkward and ill-timed (simple misfires)and in most cases lacking the charm and vitality we knew he had proven to possess in spades, but he kept going. the proverbial "they" were taking bets for the office pool on his total failure, but he kept going. as time progressed it became apparent that he was becoming more comfortable in his own skin and for that matter out of the shadows of the previous hosts (more than mired by their respective drama/scandal), and he kept going. we were becoming witness to the evolution of a future classic entertainer doing what he loved best in the world, and all to a most righteous soundtrack, and he will keep on going. i have in some ways found my place in this world (try NOT getting that tune stuck in your head today-sinister cackle!), but just haven't quite executed effectively. one thing i will make very clear though, i will keep on going...and all to a most righteous soundtrack!

oh and thanks mr. fallon for the heads up on this (the pay off is at minute 1:15)

day 46: isn't it funny that phonetic is not pronounced phonetically...

i was encouraged by my wise older sister to share this bit of useful information ragarding jacksonvillains. were one to be a sociologist studying pack mentalities in tallahassee florida, it would interest you to know that, it would seem, those who fancy the "ink" (i believe that's what the kids call it) matriculate from 2 general schools of behavior.

school 1) being the stereotypical indie/punk/rockabilly/hipster/fill-in-the-blank-core kid. this person would tend to hang with other persons like himself, some smellier (in varying degrees) than others, some with considerably less gears on their bicycles than others, some with "look at me-don't look at me" hair styles ranging from: a flock of seagulls homage to a maniacal mop-top to the one that looks as if styled by an epileptic experiencing intermittent seizures; add a dusty messenger bag, some black pants, cool band shirt, some organic/vegetarian/vegan cuisine, add some form of inebriating substance usually in the form of canned swill-and you know the first general school of tattoo lovers in our fair southernmost capital.

school 2) while a lesser percentage of "ink" abounds, these collegiate socialites love their daddies(' money?) and out of respect for the aforementioned persons, they tend to do their bodily feng shui more inconspicuously. a heart on a shoulder here, a butterfly on the ankle there, a tribal band on the upper arm here, some poorly translated chinese symbol on the wrist or side or back, or the most inconspicuous of all: the ironic cross-like tribal symbol on the small of the back. these power brokers of the twenty-something class hierarchy can generally be found cohorting with each other in luxurious foreign vehicles, with highly evolved coifs of hair, some form of pastel or other vibrant color or print design that is currently all the rage, some day-trading or internship with a law firm, add some form of inebriating substance usually in the form of bottled swill-and you now know the second school.

now what this has to do with jacksonvillains is that to know what i have discovered here you have to understand the base of my previous knowledge. that said, take the last two paragraphs-nuke it! thats right- just throw that jazz right out the window, because it doesn't belong in the "904". EVERYONE has them (an obvious universal overstep, but lets embrace the heart of the observation), of course you have your surfer/beach bum/sea-faring/pirate-types and the military and the former two schools are firmly ensconced here as well, but soccer moms? and professionals (no, not those professionals-however there's a good chance they too are covered-well, at least with tatts-but i digress)? lawyers? super-target managers? i mean really, if pres. obama spent any time here he too would probably look as if in the employ of kat von d.

the moral to this story is obvious:

diversity + body art = a more interesting people watching experience.

hoo. hah.