Crappy Day Outside

Raining hard here. Once in a while, it is cool to have days like this. At least it isn't freezing.

There is an eerie calm to rain, especially in the city.

Anyways, the day reminded me of the George Harrison classic "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". This version of the song is by Jake Shimabukuro. The guy seems like a one trick pony because this appears to be the only song he plays in public. That being said, if you can play a song this good, you really don't need a catalog of songs.

I wanted to post Jake's appearance from Conan O'Brien, but I guess it was pulled for copyright mumbo.

B2B music posts. Sticking to what I know. Yardeed, I'm also a one trick pony.

Favorite Albums (Vol. 1)

I must have been 25 when old media stopped influencing my music taste. When I say "old media", I am referring to Mtv, VH-1, BET, and most terrestrial radio. Popular music now a days is just too youth-centric. It is impossible to tell one group from the next. A lot of whinny voices. Musicianship is replaced by posing and haircuts. I don’t think anything “classic” has come out of this era. I hate to admit this, but I feel the last important artist of my generation may have been Tupac.

I could bitch and moan all day about how bad popular music is, but I want to attempt to focus on what I believe is the good stuff. Through family, friends, and co-workers, I’m always introduced to new music. These recommendations are all over the map, some classic, some contemporary, some possibly just disposable and for the moment.

Anyways, every week or two, I’m going to attempt to give four album recommendations based on what I am listening to at the moment. I’ll try to keep them short and to the point because honestly, I think most of the stuff I like is sort of polarizing. I linked the videos for my favorite tracks (via YouTube) so you can easily check them out. I guess my taste is fairly diverse.

Cat Power - You Are Free

Before I say anything about this album, I must confess I probably hate like 95% of female rockers. In order to be considered legit, I think most “chick” rockers have to be not just as good, but better than most of their male contemporaries. Because of this, I feel some decide early in their careers to either be super feminine or super tough. These artists are just setting themselves up for failure. That being said, Cat Power is more than legit. It is very unapologetic music. It could care less what you think of it. It is good music if you want to be alone. I like to listen to this album when I am in an anti-social mood. Besides your Ipod, all you need are shades and you are good to go for a stroll through town while dreaming. (fav track - “He War“)

Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future

This is what I would call a polarizing album. You will either think it is genius or just screwed up. I think this music is referred to as psychedelic-pop. It is very conceptual, but it makes sense since the band is made up of a group of art students. Think of the bastard child of Duran Duran and Chemical Brothers. Anyways, I have a strange obsession with this album. I like a bunch of tracks on it. It is awesome driving music, just make sure you have a radar detector. (fav track - toss up “Golden Skans” or “Atlantis to Interzone”)

Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection

I probably would have never listened to this had it not been for the movie “Dog Day Afternoon”. Don’t get me wrong, I always liked Elton John, but never knew he had a “classical period“. I am used to his more theatrical stuff from the late 70’s. This album is perfect to listen to before making a big decision in life. It is somewhat contemplative. Very stripped down. Long story short, if I ever have a daughter, I think I am gonna name her Amoreena. (fav track - “Amoreena”).

Lupe Fiasco - The Cool

This is probably my favorite pre-party album. It is smart hip-hop, not simple beats with nonsense being said over it. One thing I respect about Lupe is that he works with all kinds of different producers from different genres. The album is huge (20 tracks?), but very diverse. It has some soul, some trance, even a little rock. I love how Lupe isn’t afraid to use full studio bands to produce his sound. He doesn’t go cheap and just sample tracks and beats. All I can say is that this album could just redeem hip hop if it is given a fair shake. (fav track - “Superstar“)

Random Dumb Dream

Have you ever had a bizarre dream, then a few days later, you revisit the dream from where it left off?

I think the dream first started on Sunday or Monday. Dream sequences are in italics.

One day I was driving in the desert, then all of a sudden I see this alligator in the middle of the road. As I approached it, I saw that it was about to eat what looked like a puppy. The puppy could barely see, maybe because it was just born, I wasn’t sure. Just as the gator was about to attack, I jumped out of my car, and grabbed the puppy, barely saving it from the gator. I then made a mad dash for my car as the gator was pissed at me. I somehow got into the car and slammed the door just in time. The gator rammed my wheels a few times, then gave up and walked away. Several things surprised me in that I didn’t see the puppy’s mom anywhere. I also didn’t see where the gator could have come from, since we were in the desert and not close to any water. Going on, I somehow found myself driving into the night with the puppy in the front seat. It looked somewhat helpless. Strangely, I didn’t feed it or anything. Once I got to my home, I decided to just put the puppy under my parent’s bed then I went off, forgetting about it.

At this point in the dream, I guess I moved on to a new topic of interest, maybe work or girls, not sure. All I know was that I was driving in the desert. The puppy scene was more or less a random segue.

Anyways, Thursday night/Friday morning, I revisited this dream.

I was randomly walking around my home when I somehow stumbled near my parent’s room again. At that moment, I remembered I had thrown the puppy under their bed a few days ago. I decided to look under the bed to see if it was still alive, and somehow it was. I called the puppy and he walked over to me slowly. It apparently could see, and somehow found some food under the bed, which made no sense. Anyways, the puppy seemed to have grown to be about middle aged, but it was sort of freaky looking. It had a normal dog body, but a bizarre long face/head. It had a bunch of tiny sharp teeth, and it hissed a lot at me. Even though it seemed sort of standoffish, the dog didn’t really scare me. Then everything went all crazy. I somehow found myself helping the dog make a resume and it was all about looking for a job. It couldn’t speak at all, unless you count hissing. After the resume was complete, it took the resume and ran off. I ran after it, but it was too fast. At that point, I was sick of the dog anyways, and was happy it was gone. Eventually, it came back. I asked it(I never gave it a name) if it got a job, and it hissed at me. Next thing I knew, we were in a vet’s office and the dog was getting a check up. I asked the vet was the deal with the dog was. The vet looked at me and said “I don’t believe it is a dog? In fact I have no clue what it is. I also think it could be rabid.” I then looked at the “dog” and it gave me an evil look, and jumped me.

At this point, I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep. I told you it was random. I felt the need to attempt to draw what it looked like. It was a cross between a dog and some other rodent, but I wasn’t sure what. After describing the animal’s head to a coworker, he told me it was probably a possum. I checked out Google to find a picture of a possum and it was a match to the head I dreamt of. I figured the rest of the body was a coyote, since they could be found in the desert.

I really should do a post on dreams one of these days, because I’ve been having weird ones of late.

Hillary wasn't lying about Bosnia

(via YouTube via Barely Political)

How do you like them apples?

Airlines...ARGH

Have you ever gone to a travel website like Expedia, Orbitz, or Kayak to get a plane ticket, and just when you are about to buy, the price changes?

This happened to me yesterday. I was gonna buy a ticket to DC for a little golf, maybe take in some of the Potomic night life. Anyways, just as I was about to buy, the price jumped about 33%.

Where do airlines get off? Getting people's hopes up then reneging. The nerve.

The End.

The Roman Empire, Disco, Atari, the Emperors Club VIP, and now blogs.

All good things come to end. With me starting a blog, it is safe to assume the end is near.