Over on Facebook, I made the mistake - or was it? - of putting my hometown Podunkville High School in my profile. Now a bunch of people are finding me. That's fine and all, they were my friends way back when, but it's making me a bit uncomfortable.
You see, a lot of Facebook is my local professional community. Then there are few social peeps on there, too.
I have LinkedIn which is good, and I don't do much with yet but will. It's all professional. A few friends, too, but we're all there for the same reason.
Here on Vox it's social, a few friends from in real life who check in on me, a lot of new friends I've met here. All cool.
Okay, this blog isn't well thought out, so just be patient with my lack of flow.
See, I'm a communications professional and I'm supposed to have a handle on all this social media. I also know that I have to be extra careful with what is out here because I'm in a very public job. But I also need to be out there advocating in my very public job and should be using social media to do it.
For example, I was on TV not too long ago and I posted it here, although on "Neighborhood Only" mode. I was on TV where anyone could see it and the clip is hosted on the web. Pretty public, eh? So why was I wanting to keep it to the 'hood here, when I should have been pushing it out to everyone because it was a cool public service project? I don't know.
I don't advocate here except to say - arts are important, go buy tickets to your local theatre company or other cultural organization. There. Besides, I'm very Metro Phoenix focused.
I don't know where I'm really going with this. I think I'm fighting a losing battle with keeping my lives separate. Or at least in my effort to know where to draw those lines.
Just don't start stalking me, k'? Then it's all good. :-)
EDIT/UPDATE: Now I reread this, and it doesn't make much sense. I'm so confused.
Nothing is quite as distinguished as Professor Tashi's profile, even including his chubby little chin.
- 07:41 tinyurl.com/62znoy - Baby's First internet - funny
- 09:22 snipurl.com/33mlb - Zittrain's "The Future of the Internet" -- how to save the Internet from the Internet - [review]
- 09:53 tinyurl.com/6nznpb - Viscous keyboard-cleaning goop
- 09:56 tinyurl.com/5lqt2n - XKCD role-players reenact "I Love the World" strip - AWESOME!
- 10:17 tinyurl.com/66q9ed - Solar cars glide to finish line
- 10:29 tinyurl.com/56ck7o - Buyers Beware - You are being Tricked
- 12:48 B44! I need to remember to start bringing a sweater to work...2 days of freezing in a row is enough!
- 13:07 tinyurl.com/6jcrxa - Moose mystery confounds wildlife officers
- 14:06 tinyurl.com/6xlv97 - Divers tidy ocean floor along Halifax waterfront
- 14:30 tinyurl.com/588687 - How To Have A Summer Romance (With Yourself)
- 15:08 tinyurl.com/5qelua - Toronto close to setting rainfall record
- 15:21 tinyurl.com/5rp6nk - Man has blood alcohol level of 0.491
- 15:23 tinyurl.com/6mgm26 - Curse of the Crying Boy art print
- 16:28 tinyurl.com/6d5dpc - Why is the TSA taking out nipple rings and pantsing amputees?
- 16:32 tinyurl.com/5vf74c - Police 'astonished' as number of stolen bikes recovered passes 2,000
- 16:34 tinyurl.com/5zse36 - Wheat farmer stumbles on marijuana grow-op
- 16:36 tinyurl.com/5q3s2a - Being Happy: 17 Timeless Secrets of Happy People
- 18:24 onemorerobot.com/005/ - Passive Queries for Permission
- 18:29 snipurl.com/33v2b - Zimbabwean Crisis: Z$100 Billion Note Won’t Even Buy You Lunch
- 19:14 tinyurl.com/5ol7e3 - Newspaper Misspelled Own Name
- 19:18 tinyurl.com/5ol7e3 - Newspaper Misspelled Own Name
- 19:19 tinyurl.com/64yt9p - Man Glued Self to Prime Minister
Updated at twitter, Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter. (Me @ twitter)
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07/23/08 Ramkota Exhibit Hall Souix Falls, South Dakota
07/24/08 Grandmas Sports Garden Duluth, Minnesota 07/25/08 Riverside Ballroom Green Bay, Wisconsin 07/26/08 Streeters Traverse City, Michigan 07/29/08 Vans Warped Tour: Pittsburgh, PA 07/30/08 Vans Warped Tour: Riverbend Music Center OH 07/31/08 Vans Warped Tour: Verizon Wireless Music, IN 08/01/08 Vans Warped Tour: Marcus Amphitheater WI 08/02/08 Vans Warped Tour: First Midwest Bank IL 08/03/08 Vans Warped Tour: Canterbury Park ,MN 08/05/08 Vans Warped Tour: Credit Union Centre SK 08/06/08 Vans Warped Tour: Race City Speedway AB 08/08/08 Vans Warped Tour: Idaho Center Amp, ID 08/09/08 Vans Warped Tour: Gorge Amphitheatre WA 08/10/08 Vans Warped Tour: Columbia Meadows OR 08/13/08 Vans Warped Tour: Save Mart Center CA 08/14/08 Vans Warped Tour: Coors Amphitheater CA 08/15/08 Vans Warped Tour: Shoreline Ampitheatre CA 08/16/08 Vans Warped Tour: Sleep Train Ampitheatre CA 08/17/08 Vans Warped Tour: The Home Depot Center CA 09/04/08 MSU Auditorium East Lansing, Michigan 09/06/08 Crocodile Rock Cafe Allentown, Pennsylvania 09/07/08 House of Blues Atlantic City, New Jersey 09/08/08 Recher Theatre Towson, Maryland 09/10/08 The Orange Peel Asheville, North Carolina 09/11/08 The Music Farm Charleston, South Carolina 09/12/08 40 Watt Club Athens, Georgia 09/13/08 Real Big Deal Festival Gainesville, Florida 09/15/08 House of Blues New Orleans, Louisiana 09/17/08 Canopy Club Urbana, Illinois 09/18/08 The Blue Note Columbia, Missouri 09/19/08 Liberty Hall Lawrence, Kansas 09/22/08 Club Oasis Louisville, Kentucky 09/23/08 Newport Music Hall Columbus, Ohio 09/25/08 Magic City Music Hall Johnson City, New York 09/26/08 Northern Lights Clifton Park, New York 09/27/08 Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel Providence, RI 09/28/08 Toad’s Place New Haven, Connecticut 09/30/08 The National Richmond, Virginia 10/01/08 Lincoln Theatre Raleigh, North Carolina 10/02/08 Rocketown Nashville, Tennessee |
I'm always excited about acoustic releases. I generally prefer them since they strip away the flashiness and give you the raw talent of the band. Motion City Soundtrack's Acoustic EP is no different. The EP features five tracks from their 2007 album "Even If It Kills Me". For those who don't know Motion City Soundtrack is an increasingly popular indie rock/alternative rock/pop group formed in Minneapolis. The band has released three albums under Epitaph Records.
As with most acoustic releases, the songs all sound much more earnest and heartfelt. The versions of "Fell In Love Without You" and "It Had To Be You" should go down in love-song history for their incredible emotion-evoking sound. Unlike some acoustic albums, Motion City Soundtrack delivers complete studio quality throughout the entire EP. There are not only acoustic guitars, but chimes, drums, piano, bass-- the whole nine yards.
This wasn't just a sit-down in the basement; it was crafted with much precision. The vocals may not have been as smooth as in "Even If It Kills Me" but they are strong and hit all their marks (which is no small feat with all of Motion City Soundtrack's high octaves). Even if you've already purchased "Even If It Kills Me" I highly recommend you pick this EP up. The quality and effort put into the Acoustic EP is easy to recognize, and it's a whole new take on all of the songs.
Links:
motioncitysoundtrack.com
myspace.com/motioncitysoundtrack
epitaph.com
Way back in January, I clipped out of the newspaper my birthday horoscope. I have it taped here on my wall at work, right where I can ignore it completely. I'm like that. I also skip over headlines and highlighted passages. Don't know why, I just do and always have without even realizing I do it.
So here goes:
Happy Birthday for Friday, January 18, 2008:
You're entering a very special year in which you see people in a new light. You also have more warmth, luck and insight than in the past. (Maybe more insight. For the other two: I'm trying to be more aware of other people situations; I haven't been hit by a train.)
This combination makes you close to irresistible (how you doin'?) and/or extremely powerful (FEAR ME!).
You are creating a far more dynamic life than in the past (true). If you are single, with so many people in your life, you could decide to change your situation (yeah, 'cuz it's all up to me. *snort*). If you're attached, you'll discover the true meaning of closeness and accepting someone for the person he or she is (I love Elvis more and more every day, even though he's more high maintenance than ever).
Count on Gemini to pitch in. (Any Geminis out there? Need some help here!)
Show us the last thing you bought.
A penny saved is a government oversight.
The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.
The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.
He who hesitates is probably right.
Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are ‘ XL.’
If you think there is good in everybody, you haven’t met everybody.
If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.
The sole purpose of a child’s middle name is so he can tell when he’s really in trouble..
Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words ‘The’ and ‘IRS’ together it spells ‘Theirs.’
Aging: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.
Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know ‘why’ I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved.
When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.
One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young.
First you forget names, then you forget faces. Then you forget to pull up your zipper. It’s worse when you forget to pull it down.
Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today, it’s called golf…
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OK, show of hands: how many of y'all reading this have dropped acid? Strangely enough, considering my interests in neurology and altered states of consciousness, I never have. Nope. Not once. A friend of mine once said that I acted as though I were on acid all the time, just by default. Therefore, I've always been afraid that eating a tab or two might, paradoxically, make me normal. Can't have that now, can we?
Well, thanks to London, Ontario's Golden Death Music, you do not need to resort to illegal pharmaceuticals to experience seriously altered states--I'm talking the kind that can potentially mutate you into a Homo erectus or a telekinetic, maggotlike far-future form, so be careful when listening. Also, if you're forced to take a piss test at your job, do not be surprised if traces of Golden Death Music's stunningly beautiful first album, Ephemera Blues, turn up in your urine. This is the kind of bizarre, edgy, yet still tranquil music that will permeate your entire being after a few listens, lighting up your chakra, opening your Third Nostril, and perhaps transforming your pineal gland.
Golden Death Music is singer/songwriter Michael Ramey, but the album sounds as though it's been composed by a whole studio full of musicians. Nope. It's all Michael Ramey, who has written and recorded every song himself--a sizable achievement, since Ephemera Blues has a very large sound. Mixing elements of Pink Floyd, Donovan, 13th Floor Elevators, Legendary Pink Dots, Radiohead, and Jethro Tull into a swirling, multicolored and multitextured album, Ramey has created a record that literally defines the word "psychedelic." Though most songs are primarily driven by acoustic guitar and vocals, drifting in and out and through these primary elements like noctilucent clouds are eerie synths, glitchy electronic touches, flutes, cellos, electric guitars, horns, and heavily-reverbed backing vocals. Though the sounds all blend together nicely to create a languid, sleepy texture, all instruments are still distinct and nicely arranged in space, which makes this album a wonderfully immersive headphones experience. Coloured waves of sound will fill your mind with disembodied bliss...and best of all, there's no nasty come-down or flashbacks to worry about!
Much like Pink Floyd, Golden Death Music acknowledges that melody is the keystone of any piece, and Ephemera Blues is built on a solid foundation of melody and songwriting. Ramey's lyrics are often rather dark, as on the album closer "Into the Ocean"--"Throw yourself into the water / Feel the changed and tainted ocean / Let the damaged waves caress you / Feel the change"--but not morbid. In fact, there is an airy lightness to this album that gives it the feeling of a peaceful near-death experience and greatly justifies the name Golden Death Music. "Waking Nightmare" may be constructed from a tense, unnerving electro-glitch base, but the melody itself and the vocals are quiet and pretty, as though Ramey is observing the waking nightmare of life from the stance of someone who's left it all behind. Even "Lost in Violence," my favorite track on the album, manages to depict our earthly hell with a relaxed peacefulness.
Speaking of Pink Floyd, Ramey is one hell of a good guitar-player, and his acoustic guitar work will no doubt remind you a lot of David Gilmour. There are no guitar solos in his songs, however: they are trim, economical tracks that usually measure about four to six minutes in length--just long enough to let you lose yourself in them without becoming overlong or tedious.
In many ways, Golden Death Music's Ephemera Blues is musical theosophy. Much like the literary work of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Golden Death Music gathers together elements from many, many sources and attempts to synthesize them into a mystical, transcendent, syncretic unity. However, unlike theosophy, Michael Ramey actually succeeds. Whereas Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled was a hefty tome of absolutely insane religio-babble, Ephemera Blues is a tight, complex, but manageable assemblage of musical concepts and ideas that really will make you feel as though you've tapped into the Pistis Sophia, the gnostic truth, the one-ness, behind the confusion of reality. And it will bring you the peace of musical enlightenment.
It's my birthday today and I can't go dancing!
But I have made sure everyone knows that today is the day. As soon as I got in the taxi this morning and dispensed with the explanation on my cast I said "It's my birthday today" !!! Thus forcing the poor guy to utter my first "happy birthday" of the day.
Then a nice young man held the door of the elevator open so I could swing in and I said "thank you, it's my birthday today".... prompting the second good wishes of the day!
I wonder if anyone replies nastily or ignores that announcement.... I will experiment all day and see.
A woman here at work just commented that she does not know any other grown up person who gets so excited about their own birthday.
I found an unexpected surprise from my sister this morning on her blog ... Cat's "tribute" but don't believe everything you read in the press! :-)
)
It's another big CD-Tuesday for us, we've managed to cover most all of them:
- Sunfold - Toy Tugboats
- Mouth of the Architect - Quietly
- Lackthereof - Your Anchor
- Samantha Crain - The Confiscation EP
- The Avett Brothers - The Second Gleam
Man, I'm so glad that it will be a light release date for July 29th, but looking ahead, it looks like another big day for us for August 5th: The May Fire - The List, Peter Bradley Adams - Leavetaking, /Passenger. - Wicked Man's Rest, Trapt - Only Through The Pain, and Telepathique - Last Time on Earth... so looking forward to tackling those, since I am also assuming we will get more, the closer we get to that date. So below are last minute submissions for July 22nd:
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07/22/08 DC 9 DC, Washington DC
07/23/08 M Room Philadelphia, PA 07/25/08 Union Hall Brooklyn, NY 07/26/08 Mercury Lounge New York 07/27/08 Middle East (upstairs) Boston, MA 07/29/08 Local 506 Chapel Hill, NC |
SUNFOLD
myspace.com/sunfold
With the release of Toy Tugboats, released today, July 22th, this North Carolina band, Sunfold, is kicking off a mini tour on the East coast.
Even though some of you might not know the name Sedona (the original name for the band) or Sunfold, you might know them through Annuals. What's interesting to note is that Sunfold includes all the members of Annuals, just under a different name.
Their biography lists that basically Annuals is headed by music singer/singer Adam Baker, while Sunfold is under songwriter Kenny Florence's direction.... and under his direction, it looks like Sunfold are gearing to a refreshing wide range of instruments (hammered dulcimer, lap guitar, cello), in addition to the standard guitar/bass/drums rock and roll fare.
I do like what Sunfold is doing here, trying out different genre of music. Take a listen to "Gnosis" and you'll think this must've been inspired by popular jazz and 70s progressive rock. The banjo and lyrics on "Shapeshiftin'" sounds very old-time music, while "To Wake the Eye" is pretty much jazz. "Sailed off to Sea" is their most country-sounding song, and "Gorgée de Rubis" is experimenting with artificial sound as well as a hint of Hindi music. As you can see, all songs are all over the place.
This might be a good thing if you consider that they are still growing and trying to find where they fit in. It should be interesting to see how the two bands exists parallel to each other as time goes by.
Toy Tugboats is out today on Terpsikhore Records. Look for their mini tour and/or see Annuals.
LACKTHEREOF
lackthereof.com ♥ myspace.com
Speaking of side projects, Lackthereof began life in 1997, before Danny Seim started another band in 2000 called Menomena, which took over as the main project. Seim have decided to return back to Lackthereof with this latest release called Your Anchor, released today, July 22nd on one of our favorite record label, Barsuk Records.
The promotional song Barsuk want us to us is "Last November", which makes my choice a lot easier, but if you ask me, I would've prefer to use "Ask Permission" as I felt that song edge out November slightly.
Since the songs on this album were probably closely watched and mixed by Seim, himself, he controls all you hear - so the songs seems to fall on the more experimental side. There's odd melodies and unconventional music shifts, making it not very pop radio friendly.
The most radio-friendly song is his cover of The National's "Fake Empire", one of his favorite bands. To be honest, I haven't had a chance to check out the National, due partly to all the hype for the band last year. After hearing Lackthereof's version of "Fake Empire", I might check out what all the fuss is about..... Although, I would hazard a guess that it sounds very unlike the original.
PS, the most interesting thing, if you ever get a chance to see photographs of Seim and his pug. Apparently, Ms Geddy Lee, the dog, is the manager of Menomena.