In my last post, I talked about all the stuff I’ve got going on this week. Seeing as I’ve had finals, 10 page papers, booking shows, very rude neighbors, moving, and little sleep I feel like I’ve handled it pretty well. However, while I was packing this huge cloud of frustration came over me and I felt very annoyed. So what did I decide to do? Take a break and post a blog about other things that annoy me.
Shitty landlords.
Dancing shows… well, most “reality” shows in general. If I see one more “celebrity” “reality” show I think I’m going to shoot myself. No one cares what [insert C or D list celebrity] does on a daily basis or how fat they’ve become.
Girls who message other girls and start off with, “HEY GIRL!”
Senior citizens who discuss politics in public. I was sitting in an eye-doctor waiting room recently and was surrounded by early bird specials. Because they couldn’t hear one another they shouted back and forth about how Obama would “destroy” this country or how [insert politician] was “a liar.” I care about your opinion as you care about mine. In a doctor’s waiting room or Arby’s isn’t the time nor place to discuss your political leanings.
“My better is better than your better” commercials.
Being broke.
Gas prices… that’s as far as I’ll go with that one at this moment.
Realizing how much crap you own when you’re packing up to move. The sad thing is I need about 2% of the crap I have.
Hearing about the following people: Roger Clemons, Rev. Wright, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, Tyra Banks and so on…
I have to apologize for the lack of posts this past week. School has been horrible and with the upcoming finals week and a 10-page paper due I’m sure to go insane. Plus, I have to move out of my fabulously shitty apartment in that time span as well. Hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze in a few posts here and there.
My favorite Icelandic band, Sigur Ros, will be hitting the road this summer. But alas, they will not be anywhere close enough for me to see. I saw them in Louisville awhile back and it stands as one of my favorite shows I’ve ever seen. If you have a chance to see them, be sure to. It’s amazing.
Nine Inch Nails released a surprise single this past week. I’ve yet to hear it, but if you have let me know what you think.
Jane’s Addiction reunited in LA at the US NME Awards to accept the Godlike Genius award. I was never a huge fan of Jane’s Addiction, but it’s a story worth noting. Jane Says…
If you’re in the Lexington area this weekend, forget about horses running around! Remember instead to go to the Freeky Fest! You can still get drunk and pretend you like horse racing if you want. I won’t tell anyone your secret.
That’s all I have for now, my friends. Look for some announcements of at the MS&TUI page later in the day.
I have a love/hate relationship with sleep. A lot of times I will think to myself, “Sleep is a waste of time. If I didn’t have to sleep I wouldn’t.” Most other times there is nothing that makes me more happy than falling asleep on the couch watching TV. I really can’t get a grip on my sleep.
The thing is, if it were up to me I would to right to sleep, get 5-6 hours of sleep a night, and feel perfect when I woke up. Well, it seems that it’s not up to me. Lately I’ve struggled to fall asleep when I lay down and I’ll sleep way past the time I want to get up. This is for a number of reasons I suppose. I drink quite a few coca-cola’s throughout the day and I tend to nap during the day when I have a chance. However, I also live in a very shitty apartment complex and the noise keeps me up a lot of the times. Not only do people play music loudly late at night, I can hear every single step the person above me takes (and some other movements he makes that I won’t go into (this is a family blog after all, right?)). So my sleeping problems are both internal and external I guess.
I’ve tried many different things to change my sleeping habits. Two alarm clocks, cell phone alarms, etc. have all had little to no result. The strange thing is that this morning I woke up early, on my own, and felt great. I didn’t do anything differently. The people around me were loud, so about 3am I put in ear plugs and finally fell asleep. I woke up around 9:30/10:00 and to my amazement I wasn’t sleepy at all and I haven’t been sleepy all day. Go figure.
That’s what got me thinking/reading about sleep. I’ve read about all the famous sleepers (Edison, Da Vinci, etc.) and I envy them. I wish I could have more productive hours in the day and still feel well rested.
Anyway….
I’ve been reading about a musician named Sun Ra. If you’ve never heard of him, his story is an interesting tale.
I’m still working on booking shows this summer. I have one confirmed so far (June 19th @ Bread + Bagel in Bowling Green, KY) with more in the works. If you could possibly help with the booking of some shows please let me know.
I hope everyone enjoyed Record Store Day! The rain here in Lexington put a damper on mine :-(.
Here’s a fun thing to read: Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. I’m a big fan of the album, although I am worried that with the digital age albums are going to be less and less popular.
I listened to The Pixies’ Surfa Rosa for the first time during my weekend trip to Indiana a week or so ago. I’m sad that I had never heard it before, it’s an amazing album. I can definitely hear the influence the Pixies had on a lot of band, especially Nirvana. I read a great quote from Radiohead front man Thome Yorke who refused to have Radiohead headline over The Pixies. I actually just found it.
No! That’s just not right! The Pixies opening for us is like the Beatles opening for us. I won’t allow it. There’s no way we can follow the Pixies!
Onto other thoughts, how amazingly awesome would it have been to be here?
I’m trying to setup a small summer tour, if anyone can help out head over to theutterlyindifferent.com
I’m bored and I found this website listing music facts, so I thought I’d post a few that stuck out to me.
Michael Jackson’s Bad Album had 5 number one songs, more than any other album.
James Brown had 99 Hot 100 Billboard entries, yet never had a number one Hot 100 hit.
It was at a concert in Minneapolis in 1954 that Al Dvorin first closed Elvis’s concerts with: “Ladies and Gentleman, Elvis has left the building. Thank you and good night.”
Bob Dylan’s first professional performance was as opening act for John Lee Hooker at Gerde’s Folk City in New York, 1961.
Before they were known as Journey, Steve Perry called his band Golden Gate Rhythm Section.
The Beatles holds the top spot of album sales in the US (106 million), followed by Garth Brooks second (92 million), Led Zeppelin (83 million), Elvis Presley (77 million), and the Eagles (65 million). Worldwide The Beatles sold more than 1 billion records.
The LP (long-playing) record was invented by Paul Goldmark in 1948. The LP is not dead yet: more than 10 million LPs are sold every year.
Paul McCartney was the last bachelor Beatle when he married Linda Eastman in a civil ceremony in London, 1969. Paul’s brother Mike was his best man. No other Beatle attended the wedding.
Thanks again to this website for the useless (yet sometimes interesting) facts.
My friend Evan and I were quoted in the Lexington Hearld-Leader today concerning the proposed CentrePointe development. If you’d like to read it click here.
I can appreciate a good children’s show, I’m seriously a big kid. I’ll watch SpongeBob or The Fairly Oddparents. I can even see why kids think shows like iCarly and Drake & Josh are fun. However, earlier today I came across Hannah Montana and thought I’d see if I could figure out why kids like it so much. I seriously watched it for two minutes and decided it was the stupidest kids show I’ve seen. The sad thing was, I wasn’t expecting much. I didn’t expect Robert Deniro-like acting ability, I wasn’t even expecting Dustin Diamond-like acting ability, but I mean c’mon! The jokes were absolutely horrible (Dolly Parton told a joke about [some animal or a nun, not sure] sitting with a skunk at church in a pee-ew). Maybe I’m too old to get the appeal of this show, but at least SpongeBob is clever.
Why did I just rant about Hannah Montana? I am not sure. Wow, that was completely pointless.
Anyway… onto more pointless stuff.
Here’s some upcoming albums I’m looking forward to:
April 22
- Billy Bragg - Mr. Love & Justice
April 28
- Portishead - Third
May 13
- Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
May 20
- Scarlett Johanson - Anywhere I Lay My Head (All Tom Waits covers)
June 3
- Gavin Rossdale - Wanderlust (I’m really intrigued to see how this sounds for some reason)
June 10
- Jakob Dylan - Seeing Things (ditto)
- My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
July 1
- The Alkaline Trio - Agony and Irony
There is absolutely nothing going on today. There is no interesting or funny news. Maybe that’s why I wrote an entire paragraph on why Hannah Montana is stupid. I do have good news, I got tickets to see Radiohead in Indiana! My life will be complete by August 4th.
This is the first post in a series of posts that will chronicle my favorite albums.
Elliott Smith Either/Or
Released February 25, 1997 on Kill Rock Stars
There is no album that has shaped my musical mind more than Either/Or. It wasn’t the first album to make me obsessed with music, I have to credit Nirvana’s Nevermind for that, but Either/Or was the first to make me obsessed with making music.
I can’t pinpoint the exact date I heard Either/Or, but I know I was in my freshman year at the University of Kentucky. If I had to make an educated guess I would say I picked it up in the Spring of 2005, although I can’t be completely sure. I’m not even sure how I became aware of Elliott Smith, none of my friends listened to him (that I know of) until I started raving about great he was. I know I had been listening to Bright Eyes’ The Story Is In The Soil so may have learned of Elliott from reading about Bright Eyes, or I could have heard a song on UK’s radio station WRFL, again I’m not sure. It’s not important how I found out about Elliott Smith, the important thing is that I did and it changed my life.
From the opening snare roll on Speed Trails, I was hooked. I related to this album more than any before it, maybe it was because Elliott seemed like a real person who made great music. I just remember listening to Speed Trails and hearing the lyric, “Running speed trails, standing in place,” and thinking to myself, “That’s awesome…”
It’s hard for me to pick a favorite song from the album, they all fit so well together like each song is a puzzle piece that goes to one of those 3D puzzles (horrible analogy, I know). When I try to pick a favorite song it comes down to two: Angeles and The Ballad Of Big Nothing. I love Angeles most for the guitar work. I’m tried for months to play the song somewhat like Elliott and I fail every time. I love Ballad of Big Nothing for the imagery in the lyrics. Both songs are just beautiful.
I could go on talking about Either/Or and all the songs but no matter how much I type, it wouldn’t do it justice. So I’m going to stop rambling and just end by saying, if you’re a fan of music and you’ve never heard this album go check it out.
Related Links Sweet Adeline (official website that is amazing)
Not much happening today as far as news that interests me, but I’ll try and make the best of it and see what happens. I just found out that some friends and I are going to try to get tickets to see Radiohead on Aug. 3 in Nobelsville, IN. That would be amazing, they’re on my list of bands to see before I die. Also on the list: Neil Young, who I believe is touring this summer.
Prince is getting paid $4.8 million to headline Saturday night at the Coachella fest. I couldn’t imagine getting paid that much to do a show, I’ve gotten paid $20 and was stoked.
Apparently Marilyn Manson has his own brand of Absinthe called Mansinthe and it has won an award.
R.E.M.’s new album Accelerate debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts. I still have yet to hear the album, although the single off the album (the name escapes me) sounds great.
That’s all I’ve got for today. Be sure not to forget about Record Store Day (see below) next Saturday.
I’ve decided to add a new feature here at Oh Well, Ok… Poll Of The Week. Each week (on Thursday if I can remember to keep up with this) I’ll add a new poll question. The polls will vary from random to questions that I find interesting. Instead of making some serious poll, I decided to do a fun one.
