Things that are stupid

My mouse and keyboard going crazy on me
DRM
Papers about Bach
My Parker pre-repairs

Things that are cool

Cold pizza
Papers about Mahler
My Parker post-repairs
Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart

I'm going to talk about songs until I get bored. That's what this blog was originally supposed to be about, anyway.

Gang of Four - "Anthrax"
This song opens with what I consider to be one of the best guitar tones on record. One and a half minutes of noise and feedback followed by a decent tune.

Dr. Dre - "Housewife"
Smooth. Vulgar. Proverbial - "You can't make a ho a housewife". Cool as gangsta rap ever is. References to Colecovision and "hotel, motel, Holiday Inn" don't hurt.

Reel Big Fish - "Scott's A Dork"
Memorialized in that one year of SLC when I played the riff over every song we did. I don't know why I like this song. It's not one of their best, it's just kind of thrown together, but the pre-chorus leading into the chorus is just so ... bizarre. And a bridge made up entirely of the word "dork" has got to be some kind of record.

Morrissey - "Let Me Kiss You" (live)
This record (You Are the Quarry) didn't hit home for me until I heard the songs live. The lyric is classic Moz. "I've heard you'll try anything twice", indeed.

Nada Surf - Blonde on Blonde
I like this account of listening to a seminal Dylan record in a NYC rainstorm more than Dylan himself, although it did inspire me to buy said record. That and Jack Black's admonition in "High Fidelity".

Beatles - I Want to Tell You
I never realized how fantastically original and tricky the opening guitar riff is. I just knew I liked it. I enjoy the great flat 9 action on the piano as well. Also, I hate to say it, but the intonation on the vocals really bugs me on this track. I know their ears were impeccable, so maybe they were going for something, but it sounds terrible to me. The song itself is great and I do like the Indian-style vocal riff at the end.

The Clash - What's My Name
Fantastic. An early track where I think Joe Strummer's wit really shines. "I tried to join a ping pong club / The sign on the door said, 'All Full Up'!" Not a brilliant track by any stretch - especially by Clash standards - but it gets the job done.

Wilco - Theologians
"Theologians / They don't know nothin' / 'Bout my soul". A great way to start a song. It rolls along like some kind of pan-dimensional Hall and Oates b-side. Lovely.

Manic Street Preachers - Suicide is Painless (theme from M*A*S*H)
I didn't know this song had words. Depressing words, to boot. A big, solid, arena-rock reading by the only arena rock band I like.

Townes Van Zandt - Cocaine Blues
Delivered almost jovially. It makes me wonder how long people have been using cocaine, and if they had comedians back then that could be as funny about it as the ones we have now.

The Velvet Underground - I'm Waiting for the Man
Ok, I've heard about Lou Reed pitching a fit in the studio until he got this track sounding exactly right. Honestly, for a track done in 1966 - on 4-track probably - it sounds brilliant. It churns and everything is in the right place: the piano, the thumping malleted drums, the guitars, the bass. Post-Beatles music when the Beatles themselves were just warming up. You want to know what it feels like to go uptown to try and score some H? This song will teach you with no danger of addiction, withdrawal, or jail time.

I have lots of shoes.

1 pr. blue K-Swiss
1 pr. red Starter (gloss)
1 pr. grey Nike trainers
1 pr. old black Sketchers
1 pr. black Caterpillars (Doc Martens)
1 pr. brown loafers
1 pr. black dress shoes

When did this happen?

My neck hurts. I have to turn it Michael Keaton Batman-style to see anything to my left. It feels like I lent it to Andrew W.K.

This record is the bomb. Not a dull track on it. More like the first than the second, but that's fine. It was good to get introspective then, and now it's good to get out to the club and burn it down.

Jack Bauer For President

'Nuff said.

If you play guitar and you want your tube amp to sound good - REALLY GOOD - go here:

Eurotubes

You'll be amazed at the difference.

Get some awesome t-shirts here!

It's true. I made some t-shirts over at Cafepress - a stylish way to deal with a strange situation.

I need a compressor. Not this kind.

This kind.

The shop quoted me $800 for parts and labor. Looks like I can get the part for a steal at around $50 at the junkyard. Then it's anybody's guess how much the labor will cost.

Whee!

So I got summoned for jury duty. Too bad it's in Florida. That would have been fun.

Update: I have found everything I need for my guitar upgrade project.

New neck
Locking Tuners
Middle Pickup
Pickguard

Other items from guitarelectronics.com:

Set of black volume and tone knobs
Two Fender No Load tone pots
One 1 meg volume pot
Pickguard screws
Humbucker mounting screws
Single coil mounting screws
5-way pickup switch (black knob)
Two .47 capacitors
Shielded circuit wire

With the rising sun pickguard and the new black hardware (I'm also spray painting the bridge and headstock black), my guitar will officially be awesome.

Total Cost: $186.31

Not bad, considering the cheapest Fat Strat you can buy is $400 and that doesn't include the DiMarzios I already had laying around, the locking tuners, or the no load pots. Plus, I'm going to wire it like this to get a cool "auto coil tap" effect (basically meaning that when I select both middle and bridge pickups, it will create a humbucker by combining just one of the bridge coils with the middle pickup).

Shopping for guitar parts is frustrating and boring. It's neat when you find cool stuff, though. Like my new pickguard and my new super cheap middle pickup.

Now I just need some locking tuners, a replacement pickup switch and pots, and maybe a new neck, and I'm set.

I have forgotten what my bed looks like.

Timeline!

WED APR 05

10:00 AM - Wake up. Finish art song for composition lesson.

1:00 PM - Attend said lesson.

3:00 PM - Composition seminar.

4:00 PM - Run to the library to check out books and make copies for Thursday's presentation. Change ganked from Caleb's can.

6:00 PM - A nice pleasant dinner at home.

7:00 PM - Begin attempt to locate someone to take the extra ticket I have for the Roger Clyne show. Think about calling girls, but then reconsider since how do you take a girl to a loud rock show? It's not like we'll be able to talk or anything. I'll call one of the guys who I know will appreciate it.

7:30 PM - Ben says no.

8:30 PM - Ben says yes.

9:00 PM - Caleb shows up unexpectedly. Ben shows up expectedly. We go.

9:20 PM - Ben calls and asks if I still have a free ticket for him. I told him I already gave it to Ben. He says he might come anyway.

9:30 PM - We watch Taylor Hollingsworth play a kickin' set. Van sits in on lap steel for a cool acoustic number.

9:45 PM - Ben shows up, gets himself a beer.

10:00 PM - Roger's tech begins setting up. Apparently, he is the guitar, bass, and drum tech. Caleb goes to find something to eat.

10:15 PM - Getting antsy. Come on, guys! Reluctantly decide not to buy any drinks because of the ludicrous amount I will probably spend on RCPM trinkets.

10:30 PM - What are they waiting for? Where is Caleb? I wonder if he's been kidnapped or perhaps gyroed.

10:35 PM - Caleb arrives. He was gyroed.

10:40 PM - The show begins with a rousing rendition of "Counterclockwise". I think. I'm not nerdy enough to check the setlist online. Yet.

10:45 PM - Song number 2 is "Banditos". They really know how to do it.

11:30 PM - So many people have bought tequila shots for the band that they just start passing them out. I had one. It was every bit as nasty as it should have been.

THU APR 06

12:30 AM - I spend a ludicrous amount of money on T-shirts and CD's. Some of it was Caleb's birthday present, though. I now own the entire Roger Clyne catalog.

1:00 AM - I wonder if the school of music, which is supposed to close at 12, is still open so I can sneak in and make some copies. I walk over there. It's closed.

1:15 AM - I realize that I need to kick it in gear if I'm going to submit an application for the Rolling Stone reality show. I got lucky with the DV camera, and again with iMovie. But the arduous task remained of having to sift through 1 hour of footage - mostly me saying things that didn't make any sense whatsoever - and condense it down to 5 minutes of quality film. I get started.

1:20 AM - Caleb goes to bed.

3:00 AM - I realize I am thirsty and the last thing I had to drink was a double shot of tequila ... three and a half hours ago.

3:15 AM - I go get some water.

5:00 AM - Steady progress. About this time I realize that I will not be able to sleep tonight if I want to get everything done. I commit.

7:00 AM - Production wraps. Now I have to figure out how to burn a DVD.

7:10 AM - iDVD says it's gonna take like 40 minutes. I leave it on and grab the application form, which seems to have grown extra pages overnight.

8:00 AM - The DVD is finished, but it won't play in the PS2. Works fine on the Mac DVD player, leading me to speculate that it's gonna have to be fine because we ain't got no other kind of DVD's.

8:30 AM - I try to think of five journalists currently working whom I admire.

9:00 AM - I try to think of five journalists currently working.

9:30 AM - I try to think of five journalists. Caleb wakes up.

10:00 AM - Caleb yells at me to hurry up and finish the application. I ask him for the names of some journalists. We come up with the Trix rabbit in that one commercial where he impersonates a reporter, and the hot weather girl on channel 6.

11:00 AM - I comb my computer for writing samples, most of which are over 4 years old and terrible. I patch a couple up as best as I can and print them out.

11:45 AM - I run out of printer paper. They better appreciate this.

12:00 PM - I finally finish the application, with exactly two journalists currently working whom I admire. Now I need to go to Kinko's (sorry, FedExKinko's) to print 2 pictures of me from my digital camera and mail the whole shebang.

12:10 PM - I get to Kinko's.

12:20 PM - I find the digital photo kiosk thing. There is a man using it. He looks confused. I dub him "Matlock".

12:35 PM - I start to get antsy. Matlock is trying to scan his pictures so he can make copies of them. They keep coming out wrong.

12:45 PM - The front desk guy is called over to help. I try to smile when Matlock apologizes for the third or fourth time. I wonder if he aspires to make everything in his life as awkward as possible.

12:50 PM - Finally! He's done.

12:52 PM - Pictures printed, package sealed and mailed. The cost to be the boss: like $38 freakin' bucks. Duly paid.

1:15 PM - I roll in the door. Class is at 2 and I gotta present. Represent.

1:30 PM - Showered and dressed in the new shirt I bought at the show last night. It says, "I liked the band before you did, pendejo". It occurs to me that the last thing I had to eat was a double shot of tequila ... 14 hours ago.

1:40 PM - Makin' copies!

1:50 PM - Roll into class with copies of the piece I am supposed to talk about (Mozart Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat, K.320d). Sit down and immediately start sketching an outline based on what I think I read yesterday.

2:00 PM - Whew! I'm not first. I finish my outline and figure I can wing it from there.

2:15 PM - Leon gets done and heaves a sigh of relief. "Man, you know how much time I spent on that? Like less than 3 hours. Smooth like sandpaper, baby." I promise to tell him how long I spent on mine after I go.

2:20 PM - The next guy is having problems with his laptop. This is why I always rock the hard copies.

2:25 PM - They ask me to go next since I don't need a computer. I bust out my record and head for the turntable.

2:35 PM - Pretty smooth sailing. I can tell I'm losing them, but I stick to the facts and go for the emergency landing. I decide to play an excerpt.

2:37 PM - The teacher informs me that one page of my handout is from a completely different piece. I swear, I don't even know how that could have happened.

2:38 PM - I'm done presenting, but I still have to make it through class. The prognosis is not good. When I go in there fully rested, I have trouble keeping my head up.

3:15 PM - Made it! Barely. I don't even care. Now I have to run to an appointment.

3:20 PM - Call Dan to tell him that this is the first moment I've had to myself since 9 PM last night. He is sympathetic and waiting for a computer.

3:27 PM - Doctor's. "Hi, how are you?" "Fine." "Great! See you in a month."

3:29 PM - Checking account: minus $75. (To be fair, he is giving me the hookup.)

4:00 PM - Food time! Is it breakfast, lunch, or dinner? I don't care what you call it. I make a huge pot of pasta and snarf it down.

5:15 PM - I figure since I'm still truckin', might as well go to orchestra. Especially since Dr. Gregg got mad about people missing on Tuesday.

5:25 PM - I get to a four-way stop. Two people are there already. Neither of them moves.

5:26 PM - This is stupid. I'm going.

5:26 PM - "Hey! You see who you just cut off? That was Sarah ... she looked pissed!"

5:30 PM - Orchestra starts with almost no one there. I find out there is a chamber concert tonight that a bunch of people are playing in. I suck it up and play.

6:10 PM - He lets us out early so we can "go watch the chamber concert". Ah ... aha ... ahahahahah ... AHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!!! Just kidding.

7:22 PM - The end of this post. It has been approximately 33 hours and 22 minutes since the last time I was asleep. I don't know why, but I'm not that tired. Maybe it's because my movie ended up rocking. Anyway, 8 PM is bedtime tonight so I better get going.

hilarious.