Tuesday, October 27, 2009

P.O. Box 963


Alright folks, two in one day. This is what we call an "event based entry," similar to my gold tooth escapade (that I have to stop writing about, because now all my Google ads are for rap CDs and ringtones --- oh, and dentistry), where something so notable pops up that I have to spread the word.

I just heard a song that really, truly straddled genre --- 4 genres to be exact. Hip-Hop straight to Metal to Pop to Techno. When I say techno, I don't mean a little synthesizer beat in the background for 8 measures, no no, I am talking about if-you-walked-into-a-club-and-you-heard-this-on-the-box-you-wouldn't-think-anything-of-it no-shit techno. The metal is tight, tight, tight and has that painful dissonance I love so much. The melodic / pop parts are so sweet that even Daniel will like it (yeah, that's a personal callout, deal with it). I was so surprised that I bought their album without previewing anything else on it. So far it's been a fantastic listen. I heard it while listening to Pandora on an "A Day To Remember" seed.

The band is Attack Attack!, the song that took me for a ride is "Stick Stickly."

From what I saw in their music video, these guys all have the same haircut.


Here is a music video of the song that surprised me so much, which I actually like better as just audio --- I feel like seeing the band takes away from how awesome the song is, so I recommend turning away from the video, and letting the audio rip really loud. The reason I say that is because hearing something powerful is one thing, but seeing that the powerful sound was made by five 19 year olds wearing their sister's jeans takes something away from the experience. Call me crazy.

Edit: I found a video that was just the album cover. It's better this way. My point about 19 year olds in girl pants is still relevant.



The album opens with this notably authentic "crunk" style intro, and drops directly into what sounds just like real honest-to-Beelzebub metal, which turns into alt-pop melody within about 20 seconds. A confusing minute of music, for sure. 2 minutes later you're hearing club-style techno with vocoded harmonies, wrapped up with a big ugly dissonant metal finish. Even if you hate metal, pop, techno, and hip-hop, after hearing this song you'll be thinking, at the very least: "Well, by God, they really crammed a lot into 4 minutes."

Anyways, give them a listen, click the album cover to preview, and buy it if you like it.

A quick note, almost every image I post is a link --- album covers will be links to somewhere you can preview or buy that album, usually Amazon MP3, just a personal preference.


I am really excited to get this album spinning in the car on the drive to work.

I like to play a game with the toll booth people where I try and play the most inappropriate music I can find when I roll up to the booth. I don't mean bad words and such, I mean mismatched themes, like "white guy, black music," or "straight looking dude, really girly music." I get a kick out of it and I'm sure they do too. Try it next time you hit a tollbooth.

Girls hate music like this,
Hunter

It's Impossibeeeeaaarrrrhl-ah!

Sorry to be away for so long, gang. I had a long week of waking up at 4:30 a.m. to go save America. I was supporting a war game, which is nothing like what it sounds like.

A full night's sleep is very important to me, so I was going to bed at 8:30 p.m. every night this week, no joke. One of those nights, I got a text message from one of my readers (sidebar: the person who sent me the text message is more of a "long-time friend" than a "reader," but I'm trying to make the blog sound legit) that said something to the effect of "What's the TLA scoop on the band "House of Heroes?"


So, I hit up Amazon MP3 to listen to the band, and it turns out they have a free 3 song EP, "The End is Not The End." The cover features a picture of what I looked like in college.

You know how sometimes you'll eat something, and all you can think of is, "this tastes like something I've had before...what the hell was that, I really liked it...maybe it's Erin's chili...nope, nope, I think it's my mom's pork...nah, that can't be it...shit..." and so on? You forget to actually taste what you're tasting, but instead are thinking of everything it reminds you of. Well, I have obviously , and this short EP was just like that.

All I could think of when I was listening to it was how much I like Matchbook Romance. House of Heroes reminding me of Matchbook Romance is a good thing for me, but a bad thing for House of Heroes. It's kind of like when the car you just bought reminds you of the car you really wanted.



They also remind me a little bit of The Anniversary. Again, it's like when your new girlfriend reminds you of how much better your last girlfriend was.


Forgive the low quality link - you really need to hit up Amazon and at least preview this stuff in good qualty

Anyways, I was underwhelmed by House of Heroes's songwriting and performance, BUT they did remind me to listen to Matchbook Romance and The Anniversary, so I'll call it a win. Tip of the hat to Anthony for turning me on to them, and rekindling my flame with The Anniversary and Matchbook Romance. They both have this pomp and theatrical quality to them that is so rare, and so fine. Definitely art.

The albums to buy from those two are "Your Majesty" and "Voices" respectively.

The album that changed my life summer of 2003. 
Must get: "Sweet Marie," "Peace, Pain, & Regret"



The album that made me realize that epic songwriting is still alive. 
Must get: "Monsters," "You Can Run, But We'll Find You"


Anyways, good day in music for me, reconnecting with some old favorites.





                           

=



If you haven't heard of Them Crooked Vultures, and it's likely that you haven't, you are missing out. Them Crooked Vultures is a supergroup comprised of Dave Grohl from Nirvana and Foo Fighters, Josh Homme from Kyuss and Queens of The Stone Age, and John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin.


Wait, did you say Led Zeppelin? As in, Led-fucking-Zeppelin?!

Yeah baby. And you can hear the influence too. This group is so monolithic and incomprehensibly badass, that they elude comparison. Dave Grohl is one of my personal favorite musicians, and I am pleased to say that he is back behind the drum set for this album. Just listen to him play, he is a monster. Josh Homme's signature downtuned and heavy, (but not metal) sound is alive and well, and he serves as the group's lead singer, with attitude and power, and better yet, confidence. Unstoppable force type confidence. And what can be said about John Paul Jones? He was the bass player and keyboard player in Led Zeppelin from start to finish, and his production ear guided the band's sound, which is really important, but hard to describe to non-recording-nerd people. Let's just say, that "sound" you associate with Led Zep is more JPJ than you may have guessed. Self-titled album out November 17, which is shaping up to be a huge day for album releases.



  
Next up on the block is Switchfoot, with a new release coming November 10, "Hello Hurricane."



This links to an unintentionally hilarious video on their website, where you can pre-order the album

So, I haven't been able to preview much of it, but they say on their website, "if you're not crying, why are you singing it?" --- proudly proclaiming their deep emotional connection to this batch of songs. To me, it seems like it will be solid, more of a listen-in-the-car album than a play-at-a-party album, but it has some U2 overtones (religious connections aside) and some very straightforward and boring pop progressions and rhythms. I hope the album has their signature way of making normal (boring) progressions cool by leaving some absence in the arrangements. Like I said, drops November 10.

Fall Out Boy has a new single out, clearing a path for their forthcoming "Greatest Hits" album, "Believers Never Die." Verse: stud. Chorus: dud. Pre-Chorus: Super-Stud. "Believers Never Die" hits shelves November 17. Not sure how I feel about a band of dudes my age releasing a Greatest Hits album.



Atreyu has a new album out today. It's called "Congregation of the Damned" (has a nice ring to it, yeah?) and is a lot more pop than their previous releases; something you couldn't tell from the title and album cover, which looks like fried hell. It sounds like a mix between Good Charlotte and A Static Lullaby, kind of confusing. Amazon is blowing it out for $3.99 like they do, which is cheaper than the toll I have to pay to drive to work, so I'll probably pick it up. Maybe I won't though, because it's really boring. I miss their older stuff like this (below). Verdict: boring, letdown. Bring on the older stuff.




And now, the moment, you've all been waiting for:



Is he kidding?

Glory, glory, Hallelujah, Creed is back together! New album, "Full Circle" released yesterday. I will be getting a tribal arm band tattoo and renting a Camaro to celebrate.

Seriously though, say what you will about Creed, but I just love singing their songs in the car --- it's a hoot --- especially when the wife is with me.

Wearth aerhms whi-do-pearnh-ah!
Unnn-daer the surnhlearght!
Wehlrkearhm to this plearce-anh, I'll show yeaurh evry-thearnh!
Wearth aerhms whi-do-pearnh-ah!

Then for the rest of the day I grunt everything in Scott-Stapp-voice. We pass a movie store and I say
"Cearnh we reaehrnt a mooo-vearnh-ah? May-beahn ah eaction-thrillearnh?!"

Music is supposed to be fun, right?
-Hunter



Friday, October 16, 2009

Paying The Rent With "Mad Props"


New Cartel album coming out October 20; "Cycles." Back in college, we played Cartel at our house like it was the cure for the hangover. Their last release, "Cartel," was made in MTV and Dr. Pepper's "Band in a Bubble" flustercuck, but the album came out better than I'd imagined it would. There was a lot more southern flavor, good old-fashioned rock tones, but composed with pop moxie and hit with some very slick production. Everyone in the world except me hated it, though, and it got no love from most Cartel fans.


MTV and Dr. Pepper, united to entertain generate revenue

Well, I've previewed this new album, and I gotta tell ya, they are really bringing the rock. It's like their Chroma album drank a Red Bull and got a tattoo. It's still sappy pop rock, but it's got a teensy-weensy bit of edge now, and the production is a lot...bigger, more bombastic. I think maybe their producer had a Red Bull, too.

Anyways, I know only 3 people read this blog, and half of you like Cartel anyways, so click the album cover to preview the album, then go get it on the 20th. Blacksburgers, this one's for you.

My buddy Dan asked me the other day, and I paraphrase, "How many of these albums that you're critiquing are you actually buying, because I've spent at least 50 bucks on music in the past month, and I don't know if I can keep it up. I'm enjoying it though."

The answer --- almost all of it. As I have aged (shut up, you're young too), art has become more important to me, and supporting it has become more important to me. What a lot of people don't understand, is that I don't buy music to put artists in fancy cars --- I do it to encourage the artists to make a next album. Say you're in a band and you release an album. You press 100,000 copies of the thing, and 37 copies sell. Are you going to make a next album? Nope, because you're going to be too busy flipping burgers to pay off the 99,963 albums you pressed and didn't sell.

The only way to get a next album, a tour, a new single, whatever out of an artist you love, is to buy their album right now. Putting their name in your Facebook profile under "Favorite Music" or telling your friends that you give them "mad props" isn't going to be enough to encourage them. I have tried to pay my rent with mad props before --- not recommended.



Think of an album like this --- ~5 guys work on it for 2 years. How much dough do you pull in in a year? Multiply that by 5, then multiply that by 2 (also known as multiplying by 10, but my sister reads this blog and I didn't want to confuse her) and write the number down on a piece of paper. The part of the work that they sell to the consumer, you, costs $9.99. For something 5 people (usually twice that, production) worked on for 2 years. Think about it, think think about it.

I have a buck or two to spare, and when I think about what's important to me, music ranks in the top 10. When you think about how much money it is, try and compare it to something you spend just as much money on but don't love --- e.g. toll roads or dry-cleaning. What are you going to remember 5 years from now?

Also, artists change over time --- imagine if Aerosmith had called it quits after "Toys in the Attic," before you were born. The most exciting thing about music to me is the dynamicism (please don't Google that, I used it improperly) --- how subject matter changes and how the writing changes --- how many times have you seen an artist come out with a head-bobbin' album full of love songs, then drop a brooding masterpiece of break-up songs 2 years later? I've seen it a lot, and I love it. You get the point --- [/soapbox].




Everybody have a good weekend --- there is no continuum from "bad to good" with weather, it's all just different, so don't let the rain get you down.

Listen to the raindrops on the roof of your car,
-Hunter

P.S. I know this post was heavy / not very funny, but hey, give me a break, the weather's shitty!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Tears of a Baby Panda





First up is an album I'm really excited about. The Almost is a band a lot like the original Foo Fighters --- a pop rock outfit with all songs written by and every instrument played by the savage drummer from another well known heavy band. Aaron Gillespie, if you don't know him already, is the badass drummer, clean vocalist, and principal songwriter for the ha-mazing melodic hardcore band, Underoath. Below you can see what an artful songwriter and capable vocalist he is. Don't be fooled, though, most of Underoath's music is more like this. The drums on the song I just linked in the previous sentence have resulted in numerous near-car-crashes for me, as I can't refrain from air-drumming. This applies to almost every Underoath song, so if you see me on the road and you hear Underoath, pull over and call the police.




The amazing part is how The Almost is so unlike Underoath. Aaron notes, “As much as I love what I do in that band [Underoath], there are songs in me and music that I enjoy just as much that comes from melody."
I like Aaron Gillespie, Underoath, and The Almost so much that I'm going to come off pushy if I go any further. Dive into YouTube and hit some Underoath and The Almost videos.

Start with this undeniably Foo Fighters-meets-90's-radio-single track from their (his?) upcoming "Monster Monster," and dive back to their Billboard #7, "Say this Sooner"



Next one's for you emos. Just kidding, I like it too.


New Dashboard Confessional single out this week - Belle of the Boulevard. I used to make fun of Dashboard Confessional / Chris Carabba for the over-the-top band name and the "would you just  grow a pair and deal with it already?!" inducing sappiness, but years later, seeing that they were just musicians speaking in "their voice" as a band, I can't hate on that. The single comes as the spearhead of their upcoming November 10 album release, "Alter the Ending" which we can't preview yet. I'm sure it will fly off the shelves, under the guise of "irony" for people who are still too ashamed to admit they like a band that sounds like a baby panda crying.



 Out on October 20, is a new Flight of The Conchords album, "I Told You I Was Freaky." This is the kind of album I never buy, but love to find YouTubes of to listen to at work. The thing about Flight of the Conchords is that while they're a comedy act, their music is actually catchy / memorable, so I'll find myself humming it. Funny when you realize your humming the melody of "You're definitely the most beautiful girl I've ever seen......with a kebab." Preview it now on Amazon by clicking the album cover



Also, you know I can't stay off "The John," (there's got to be a better way to say that) so here's the newly released video for his new single, "Who Says." I don't like the video as much as I like the song, it takes the opposite tone that I was figuring it would. Whatever the message is, it looks like fun, and the video is one you'll want to watch twice.


I found a decent light pop album while cruising Amazon, too --- Qu by Sherwood. I can't really categorize it further than it's like sugar compared to bread --- this one's sugar, giving you what you need right now, but I can see it losing it's spot in the CD tray the same month you buy it. Listening now. Yours for $2.99 @ Amazon.

Had to counter my gold tooth with some alt rock cred,
Hunter

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

I love gooooooold!




OK people, emergency blog post.



Years ago I ate a bunch of candy and soda. 
Months ago I got a root canal. 
Two weeks ago I got prepped for the crown, and got a temporary crown. The dentist has to take an impression of your teeth and send the impression off to get a perfect / custom crown made.


Well, when my dentist was asking me what kind of a crown I wanted, I was like, "uh, what are my options?"

Stay with me.

The below is a paraphrase. While I have spent lots and lots of time in a dentist's office, I am not a dentist. Internet blogs are not an adequate substitute for medical attention. Offer valid only while supplies last.

Dentist: "Your two options are gold and porcelain. Porcelain will be white, so nobody will notice the filling, but they eventually break and need to be replaced."

Me: "Oh man, that doesn't sound like any fun."

Dentist: "It's not. Gold crowns last forever and never need to be replaced. The two are the same price."

Me: "Well shit, the only person that ever gets close enough to me to see my teeth is my wife, and she doesn't care what's in there --- I'll go with gold."

Done deal.

I figure that "gold" is a colloquialism for metal / alloy, you know, just a regular grey filling. I have some other fillings that I thought were referred to as "gold" and they're a drab grey, pretty unremarkable, unnoticeable.

Fast forward two weeks.


Today I go in to get the permanent crown delivered. The dentist has the thing in his hand, polishing it, before it gets "installed" in my head, and I said "hey, can I take a look at the crown?" --- just curious about what a crown looks like before it's cemented to a tooth forever.

Oh - my - god.

Not unremarkable, unnoticeable grey. Not drab. Not subtle.







The thing is GUH-HOLD.

Like, REALLY gold. Stun-tastic gold. Three 6 Mafia gold.

So I am sitting there, looking at the crown, and I can't say anything, because the thing was custom handmade just for me, and it was really expensive, it's kind of a "toothpaste out of the tube" situation --- it can't be undone.

So I just laid back and got the crown installed. I was hearing rap music in my head the whole time, because I know that from this day forward, I am tha mack.

Anyways, your boy Hunter got a seriously gold tooth today at the dentist. Ask to see it next time you see me, I think it's bitchin'.

Shmoke and a pancake,
-Hunter

On Dogs, Guests, and Remodeling.

My in-laws, their two black labrador retrievers, and my sister-in-law all came to visit us this weekend for my wife's birthday. Having guests, two of which were dogs, was almost exactly like when I used to live in a fraternity house. Let me explain:


Having Guests with Dogs
Living in a Frat House
Can't leave any food unattended or it will be consumed, almost immediately


Have to buy twice the amount of beer you actually want


Can't leave the house for 5 minutes without something being destroyed while you're gone


Waking up in the middle of the night to frantic shuffling and unintelligible moaning


Never any place to sit down even though you live there



See? Anyways, it was a nice visit and it was fun to have dogs in the house so my wife could see what a pain in the ass it is. A lot of people really misunderstand the way I feel about dogs --- see, I love dogs. I like having them around, I think they're great companions and a nice addition to a family. I also think they are a pain in the ass. I don't mean the dog itself (and its behaviour), necessarily, I just mean having a dependent that you can't take everywhere with you. Babies are A-OK --- you need to run to the store? Grab the baby, hit the road, go to the store with the baby on your arm, come on home. It's totally normal and acceptable to take a baby with you to the store (only normal if you have kids).

With a dog, you have to leave it at home. I'm ruling out taking the dog along and leaving it in the car, because I have a nice car and dogs get crazy. Also, the possibility of too hot / too cold thing is just something I ain't dealing with, because, as proved by the comparative response to Michael Vick's dogfighting charges and Donte' Stallworth's manslaughter charges, dogs are apparently more important than people.

Anyways, you have to leave the dog at home. Just leaving without the dog is a challenge, because it will do everything to make sure that you don't leave without it, including sticking their big, dumb head in the door as you shut it. After you leave, your neighbors all shoot you the "you bastard" look because as soon as your truck is out of sight the dog will assume his duty as the neighborhood timekeeper, barking once every second to ensure that no one loses track of the time while you're gone (they won't).

When you get back, the dog will tackle you and knock whatever it was that you brought home from the store out of your hands. Also, bonus: they will have done some complimentary remodeling for you.



Anyways, I was glad that we had the dogs stay with us for a weekend so my wife could see how dog life will be.




Musical interjection: the new John Mayer single "Who Says" is out today. Get it, and set your player to Repeat One. Also new:

Norah Jones: Chasing Pirates - a single that's not going to blow your mind, but nice

Los Lonely Boys: 1969 - a short album of classic rock covers that Amazon is practically giving away for $0.99. If you haven't listened to Los Lonely Boys in a while, click this link and listen now.

Billy Talent: III - I lost a lot of text I had written here, but here's the short redux: they're a revivalist punk band from Canada that is the only band I can think of in recent history that holds the punk roots firmly --- not just pop rock with tight jeans. They are powerful and rowdy, and their guitar player has great tone, punk or otherwise.





Also, yesterday was my wife's birthday, so I took the day off work and stuck with her all day. It was really nice and relaxing and I even did a little scavenger hunt thing for her. We went to a nice restaurant and had a cocktail and appetizers (Wild Mushroom Crepe + awesome salad with blackberry vinaigrette) then headed home to make dinner together, which turned into "F dinner, let's eat Key Lime pie." Awesome day.


Yesterday was also my dad's birthday, so we talked to him for a while, and I realized I need to find something for the old man before he and my mom come to visit us, with their dog, this weekend.

Yeah, seriously.

-Hunter

Friday, October 09, 2009

I Hate Everyone


There's a new "Say Anything" album coming out on November 3rd. If you're not familiar with the band, let me describe them to you a little bit:

They are led by Max Bemis, who sings a very clever and snappy stream of consciousness, telling what is apparently everything he feels. I'm not talking minutiae here, more not filtering everything to see if it's going to sound politically correct or cool. He just tells you what's up. The sincerity and candidity will draw you near immediately. There's a wit that's always present that gives you the feeling you get when you're talking to the person that you know gets all your jokes.

He's backed by a band that magically kicks out music that has all the pop and punk and indie and alt hooks you've ever heard, blended and on tap.Every song they write has something, at least one thing, that will play over in your head all day long --- whether it's a progression interval that you can't get out of your mind, a drum part that hooks you, or one of the many guest vocalists they sneak in on you - The singers from Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Dashboard Confessional, Saves the Day, The Starting Line, Alkaline Trio, New Found Glory, Underoath, The Almost, Hot Rod Circuit, Saosin, and Circa Survive all appeared on their appropriately titled 2007 "In Defense of the Genre," and that's not even a complete list. Seriously.

Anyways, the thing about this band is that the candid nature of it is off-putting to a lot of people. They're not singing about balls and weiners or anything, but with lyrics like "My people were slaves before yours invented hip-hop," (the lead singer is Jewish) I can understand how some folks would feel a little uncomfortable cranking it with the windows down.

It's got a little juvenile / punk edge to it, but I don't listen to music to show the world how classy and grown I am. You definitely won't be in the mood for this band all the time.

Anyways, cruise YouTube, buy their album, etc. They are definitely something refreshingly different.

Recommended listening: Alive With The Glory of Love (about the Holocaust), No Soul, which has a super-glue hip-hop chop in the chorus, Belt, and the self-aware / mocking Admit It!!!

I can't really shift gears from Say Anything to work, home, or even any other music, so to make up for not including any humor in today's post, I'll link you to this.

You cain't learn to talk like 'is,
Hunter

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Those Geese are Made In America

Yesterday I went out to lunch with my boss. After we talked about progressive synergy and leveraging capabilities for 2 hours, we went back to her office where she told me what my new salary was. Very progressive.

I was in a good mood for the rest of the day, basically floating on a cloud of goofy, because I hadn't really gotten any big, good news that would affect my everyday life since I found out that John Mayer was releasing a new album this fall.

Well, I left work early, unable to focus on anything but high-fiving my wife (not a euphemism) and popping a champagne cork (OK, maybe a little bit.) I got home and poured two flutes of champagne and got started on dinner. After an endearing toast by my wife and awkwardly doing the arm-hook champagne sip thing, we enjoyed a nice dinner and talked about how awesome I am.

After dinner, I left for the Greg Koch guitar clinic at my local music store. Greg Koch is my second favorite guitar player, and even though he's not even famous enough to have a Wikipedia article, I like him as a guitar player because he has THA SKILLS, he has fun, and he manages to be a family man and a nice guy. Pretty much everything I want out of guitar playing.

I'll spare the guitar nerd details, but it was completely enveloping. An intersection of subtle humor and great playing, detailed explanation and gear geeking. Totally up my alley. After the show I talked to Greg for a few minutes, he signed an 8x10 for me, signed my #1 Stratocaster, and took a picture with me.



Per usual, he asked me "so your name is Hunter --- do you hunt?" After a brief dialogue about consuming everything weaker than yourself, he declared that as a Hunter, I must "feast on game." Agreed.



Also, found a magnificent YouTube. Now, I know what you're thinking - there are lots of funny YouTube videos out there, and this one is probably just as lame as what my aunt "Fwd: FWD: FWF: Fwd: Hilarious Must Watch!!! <3"s to me, but this is truly a cut above the rest: Auto-Tune the News.

The Federal Commission of T-Pain approves!


I rarely laugh out loud on YouTube videos, but the lines "Those Geese Are Made in America" and "I know, it tastes like goat shit" (below) really set me off.


Just spend the rest of your evening watching all the Auto-Tune the News videos.

Shaw-day-ee,
Hunter

Monday, October 05, 2009

HOO-HA

Click the wolf for the music that accompanies this post.

Tuesday is going to be awesome.

My boss and I are going out to lunch to discuss my recent promotion and my "path forward," as we say in consulting. Beyond the obvious long-term ramifications of the discussion, I am getting free lunch - anywhere I want. This is like hearing "you can have whatever you want for dinner" when you're a kid and your mom is out of town, and you end up eating ice cream and beef jerky for dinner with your dad.

After ice cream and beef jerky with my boss, I am going to the body shop to pick up Bessie. For those of you who don't know, my truck's name is Bessie. Why, you ask?

Fig. 1: Two beasts of burden; black, mostly square with a rounded-off snout, and not particularly attractive.

Anyways, Bessie has been in the body shop for a week now, getting a door dent fixed. The rental car I got set up with was a Jeep Commander; which was better than I'd expected, but didn't have the je ne sais quoi of my beloved Bessie. Ask my wife, I have said "I miss Bessie" 9200 times this week. Once in bed. After I get her back, I am going to start practice for Bessie's inaugural ghostride, a hobby so incomprehensibly boneheaded that if you don't already know what it is, you'd be better served to just keep it that way.

Rounding out my Tuesday will be something that takes a special kind of nerd to enjoy --- a guitar "clinic" with Greg Koch. You don't know who Greg Koch is, and even if you did, you probably wouldn't get as big of a kick out of him as I do. Imagine all the music I like that you don't like, and all the comedy that I like that you don't like. =Greg Koch.






What's the fastest car in the world?


A rental.

-Hunter

P.S. Today's music pick is The Hymnasters

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Noddin' my head like yeah


I gotta g'on head on break 'em off wit' a little preview to da weblog.

This blog isn't going to be all about music. Music will be popping up here a lot, because I enjoy it. I see value in all music - kind of like the old "a bad day fishing is better than a good day at the office." But this blog will also include other stuff.

Like this short story about me getting a promotion.

I got a promotion at work today. My boss just walked into my office and said "I'm here to tell you that you're being promoted." In my mind, I was all "noddin' my head like yeah," but on the outside I managed to stand up and shake his hand.

The whole deal was slightly awkward because he didn't have anything else to say, so we just both stood there for a minute alternating between me re-thanking him and him re-telling me I earned it. I went outside after my boss left, to call my wife and tell her. After I did this, I decided to call my mom.

Now, Mom has a way of always reacting to good news in a peculiar way.

So I call my mom, and after asking me if I could hear her for 45 seconds and telling me about the bus she was on (?), I tell her I got a promotion.

She responds with "are you moving to another office building?", "what other work do you have to do now?" and other fairly detailed and inconsequential questions before circling 'round to the "congratulations" I was so obviously fishing for. Classic mom!


So I go back in to my office, and I'm excited of course, but nobody else is, because it's just "Thursday" for everyone except me. I'm not going to yell down the hall "hey everyone! I got promoted!" or anything, so I just go back to my office, and I'm sitting there like "hell yeah! I'm the man today, I am rockin' this job LIKE A BOSS!" and feeling really pumped up, when my co-worker walks by --- I think that maybe he overheard that I got promoted and was dropping by to congratulate me, because he had a big smile on his face, and I am excited for my day of getting high-fived to get started - today is my day!

Well, he leans in the door and says, "That map you have to fix today was in way worse shape than we thought --- you are going to have a
shitload of work to do." and walks away.

-Hunter

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