The Four of Us are Dying.

I am laying in the dark, in my room listening to Jesu(pronounced YAY su) very loudly. I finally recieved the vinyl after ordering it like 2 months ago. The vinyl has a different mix than the CD to take advantage of the different sound of the format. It is amazing. Perfect music for drifting off. Maybe it's the weather but I just feel kind of sludgy/doomy today. Well I actually feel sludgy and doomy quite often. Doom rules.

The other band jammed last night again. I had a great time. It was very different without Ryan Traynor. Harder to change dynamics I think. I can't wait to get that Distortion pedal that I want. With 2 different gain stages I can just go a bit heavy or all the way heavy. It'll be great! We really have something cool going on and I can't wait to really start writing songs.

I made a spreadsheet on google spreadsheets with a list of albums I need to purchase. I figured it would be an easy way to alphabatize the list I had going. I hate going into the record store and having no idea what I want to buy. This list will hopefully alleviate that. I feel like Kyle doing a spreadsheet though. I know there are more albums to add to the second column (albums coming soon) but I can't seem to think of them haha. I don't really need help with those though. The list is all about walking into the store and forgetting what I want to buy. New stuff stands out and usually warrants a special trip to the store. Midnight sales and all that.

If you want to see my amazing spreadsheet give me your e-mail address and I can share it with you. For those of you who don't know, google spreadsheets is like excell that runs from your web browser. It saves the spreadsheets on the internet and allows you to share them with anyone in the world! It kind of makes me think about the future. There are 2 new movie formats now: HD-DVD and BluRay. I think that we are getting to the point where media shouldn't be on these little discs. Everything should work like iTunes. Although I love buying albums for the art work, I don't buy DVDs for the art. I buy them for the movie! In the future I think every electronic device will be all networked together. Then I can buy a multi-channel hi-resolution album or movie on my computer but it will be playable on my home theater, in my car, on my iPod, everywhere. They should still make vinyl though because vinyl rules.

Blah blah blah. Susan is still here and she is crazy. I think I'm done blabbing for today. Be well, do good work, and take care.

New look?

ehhh it's okay. I'll probably try a few things change it around a bit. Lark has a list of shows she is going to so I figured I would do something similar. Red Sparowes was last Thursday and totally amazing by the way. I stood at the same spot I stood for ISIS and it was perfect. The only disappointing thing was they had no vinyl for sale. I was hoping to pick up some stuff I couldn't find. Oh well i guess that's why we have the internet.

September 1st- Dipthong with some shitty bands at the Worthen in Lowell
September 2nd- Temporary Residence Limited Party with Explosions in the Sky in NYC
September 3rd- Temporary Residence Limited Party with MONO in NYC
September 9th- Mastodon with Converge in Worcester
September 29th- TOOL with ISIS in Mansfield
October 3rd- TOOL with ISIS in Manchester
October 11th-19th- Dipthong on tour.
October 20th- Dipthong back home with Fantom Frequency (NYC) at the Brewery in Lowell
November 10th- Ani Difranco in Boston
November 22nd-Dipthong at the Skybar in Somerville

Hopefully somewhere in there the "other" band will have a show or two. Possibly between the tour and Thanksgiving. We jam on Thursday I belive. Possibly without Ryan Traynor though. He's actually the loudest and most noisy. My noise is very controlled and only in small doses haha. We shall see.

I was on the "Tewksbury Scene" myspace group and saw that Jamie Laird was in the top 8. Oh that Jamie Laird. He was a guitar teacher at Daddy's in salem and now runs his own studio. He's a nice guy and a great jazzy guitarist. Maybe he'd like to lay down a nice guitar solo in the "other" band haha.

Susan is in the next room talking to herself. She is more than retarded, she is crazy too.

Currently listening to: Logh, Disappearer, The Melvins, live Red Sparowes, new ISIS (on their myspace!), new Deftones (on their myspace!), Bjork's Post in 5.1 surround, and more!

"Frustrated at the world" or "People who post blogs every day are ghey"

Yet another blog. I actually like writing them. I'm in a shitty mood. Things aren't working out like I had planned. I just want to tour. Every night that I sit at home is a night wasted. I should be out on the road doing it right now. I'm 23 and I'm not doing anything. I'm just sitting in my room playing bass listening to The Gersch. It's a decent record. More Bryant Clifford Meyer stuff. After this I'll probably listen to his Windmills by the Ocean. I've already listened to plenty of Red Sparowes. He won't be playing with Red Sparowes this week because the guy from Pelican will be. Pelican kicks ass. Rebecca better not fucking move into the room next door. What a pain in the ass that would be.



Ding Ding took that picture while I was changing strings before our New Jersey show. It was a decent show even if that other band was horrible. I love that guitar. Funny it's just sitting in it's case in my room. Not being played. Fuck it even has a broken string. I haven't changed it because I haven't needed it. I've done very minimal playing since it broke. Somebody's got a case of the Mondays....

Same picture but in green. For some reason you can see it better.

"Shakespeare on the Common" or "Snakes on a Plane"

Last night was Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew at Boston Common. I had a good time and I got to spend some time with Lark which is always good. We then went back to her place and played 4 person scrabble. I once again proved my genius and came in dead last.

On the way to the common I got a phone call from Sam Jackson telling me that Snakes on a Plane is quite possibly the greatest motion picture ever made. He's the best that Sam.

The incredibly dark picture above is a cell phone shot of the rig I used to jam the other night. 70's Marshall JMP through a VHT 4x12 next to a 70's Sunn Model T through a Mesa 4x12. The guitar is my 1981 Gibson Les Paul Custom in wine red. For pedals I used a Boss TU-2 tuner, Voodoo Labs Microvibe, Boss BF-2 Flanger, Boss DM-2 Analog Delay, Mooger Fooger Analog Delay, Mooger Fooger Low Pass Filter, Snarling Dogs Wah, Sovtek Big Muff PI, and in the loop of the delay a Boss PS-5 pitch shifter. It sounded wicked pissah. I've been thinking about doing away with the rack and using just amps and pedals again. I've got some ideas...

Yikes, couple quick things!

Making it Right broke up today. That totally sucks. If there was one band I've ever seen that could have done it, it was them. It kinda bums me out. I'm afraid that if they can't make it, I can't make it. I made a joke last time I saw them that I would cut my hair to join that band. Brendan had made a comment about my "metal" hair. It made me think that they must see me as this wicked metal kid who just happens to really love their band. People who know me know that I'm anything but wicked metal. So I made the joke thinking they would never let me in the band with my "metal" hair. Well funny thing happend. Several months later, I cut my hair. Maybe one of them would like to jam...

About the attack. I read something about taking it seriously. It said that the police have no reason to play politics. I don't know if I agree with that but I do think I'm not taking the little guys effort seriously. I'm just so mad at the system right now that everything I see seems like a ploy to control us. If I were al-qaeda though, I'd think of something more original than an airplane again jeez.

"2001: A Space Odyssey" or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb"

So I've begun my attempt to watch all of my DVDs in alphabetical order. Including all special features and bonus materials. The first film was 2001: A Space Odyssey. 2001 is an incredible film but it is kind of difficult to watch and understand. Arthur Clarke said that if you watch 2001 and understand the whole thing than they haven't done their job. He wanted to make a film that posed more questions than answers. It's mostly silent. There isn't any dialogue for 30 minutes, the most popular character HAL doesn't show up until an hour in. There also isn't any dialogue in the last 30 minutes of the movie. It starts off with an overture, has an intermission, and ends with exit music. The extras on this DVD are almost non-existant. There are 2 trailers (one for 2001 and one for 2010: The Year We Make Contact, which i've never seen) and there is a press interview with Arthur C. Clarke from the 60s. Overall it's a movie I'm glad I own and recommend it to anyone who loves science fiction and can handle a slower movie. You ADHD kids know who you are.

The next movie is The Abyss, followed by AI. 3 pretty heavy Science Fiction films in a row. I'm glad Almost Famous comes after that. It'll be a nice comedy to lighten things up a bit.

That last post was my second longest post. Over 1,000 words. Impressive. Most impressive, but you are not a jedi yet.

"The long road home" or "Driving me crazy"

There you go. Does that title count as a nice pun or what? Ehh it's okay. I'm working on it. The title refers to those late night drives I seem to make all the time. Either from Cambridge or Haverhill. They are long and lonely and dark. I wish that we all lived in Boston and jammed in like Allston. Every thing would be nice and close. We would have no stupid cars. It makes sense for people to live like that. That is how Western Civilization got started. They made a city where the 2 rivers (tigris and euphrates i believe) came together. We should all live in the city unless we are farmers. Then we can live in the country. Everyone wants their own property selfishly and they don't care how much gas they use to travel. After the earlier rant I wanted to do a more relaxed post.

I just jammed with the other band tonight. Dipthong practices seem to be few and far between. It didn't go very well though. We think it was because Keith really made a huge difference. I can't wait to get him back. He works as a good liason between Ryan and I because we aren't always on the same page. We were talking about names again and they seem to like Tashjin, but I don't like it as much anymore. I'm digging Antikythera Mechanism. They'll both work. I've been thinking about it more and more. Should we write songs? Should we just jam. I figure if we actually work stuff out it could be more indepth. We could do more things. If we just improvised though it could be real spur of the moment. I guess that leaves it open to be bad... I was also thinking that maybe we could write but leave big spaces for improvisation in there. Kind of like the Mars Volta. We also need to find our niche. I don't want to be an ISIS ripoff. I don't want to sound just like all the other Hydra Head bands. I want us to have our own thing that is inspired by the Hydra Head stuff. I'm totally blown away by 5ive right now but I'll talk about that later.

I got a new phone battery today! Thank goodness because the old one was driving me insane. To have only 5 minutes of battery life is retarded. I'll finally be able to call back all those people who have been trying to get in touch with me the last few weeks (Kirimi, Josh).

I picked up the first legion trade yesterday. I started reading the series when Supergirl joined the team (sticking with my super-related book rule) but I liked it so much I've wanted to get some older ones. I've always liked the Legion of Super-Heros and Mark Waid is a great writer. Plus Erik and the guy from the superman homepage recommended it. I've since been straying away from the super-related book rule. I picked up Powers last week and I've been reading Secret Six. For those of you who don't know, I have a rule that I can only buy comics that are Superman related. So that means I can buy Justice League, Justice, Superman, Action Comics, All-Star Superman, Supergirl, and Supergirl and the Legion of Superheros. Because of Infinite Crisis and all the tie ins (esp. one year later) I've picked up a few other books including 3 Batmans, 52, Secret Six, and some more. I've got to cut back or it gets out of control!!!!!

I'm selling my Les Paul Classic. I'll probably put it up on Craig's List this weekend. I figure with the money I can get a case for my mesa cab, new guitar cases and possibly that Japanese distortion pedal. There is a ton of gear that I want but those things would get me through haha. This way I don't have to rely on my Big Muff Pi for the other band and I've got great cases for all my gear to tour in Dipthong with. I've got to keep my gear in tip top shape because I cannot afford to replace or repair it! I figure the cases are more important than having 3 Les Pauls. One of the 3 is always getting neglected anyways. After I get all that stuff I need that guitar stand, a case for my Sunn head, then a new head and cab to go along with it. Probably a Marshall JMP into an matamp cab. Maybe 8x10 maybe just 4x12. We'll see...

This weekend I will probably try and relax as much as possible. I know I'll go see Taming of the Shrew in the Boston Commons with Lark and her friends on Saturday night but I think I'll spend the rest of the weekend watching movies in my room. Maybe I'll get some reading done. I don't read enough!! I'm sure Lark wants to spend some quality time with Nicole too.

I'm going to change the layout and possibly colors of this blog. It is way too standard black. Boring. Local The Comic has a nice looking blog.

There is lots of great music coming this fall. Mastodon, Red Sparowes, ISIS, Deftones, Mars Volta, and probably more that I can't think of all have albums coming out. It's gonna be a tough top 1o this year. (Last year I got lazy and didn't do one. I also bought a bunch of records in January that had come out the year before that had belonged in that top 10.) It's a good time to be me I guess. Great girlfriend. Family is doing good. Decent job. 2 bands. Superman movie. Clerks 2. Superman comics have been great. Everything Superman is coming out on DVD. I could go on but I won't. Even though jamming was less than fantastic I'm in a good mood!

Wow long blog again. Still not done kids sorry.

My cats are the best. No more peeing on the couch either. I knew they would stop. Fuzzy is so loyal and adorable I can't get over it!

5ive is an incredible band. 2 members. Guitar and drums. I'm so fucking blown away it's rediculous. It isn't super far off from what I've been doing with Ryan, Joey, and Keith but it's just so fucking good. The guitarist is amazing. He fills out the sound and his effects work is inspiring. I went to Newbury and Bull Moose looking for a couple of specific things. I found nothing at Bull Moose and very few things at Newbury. I decided to take a chance with 5ive because it was cheap, the description sounded cool, it had J. K. Broaderick remixes, and it was on Hydra Head. Boy I'm glad I did. Best wah pedal work since fucking hendrix i swear. I also finally found that 3 way Red Sparowes split I've been looking for. It was under various. Red Sparowes rules and I can't wait to see them next week. The guy from Pelican will be playing with them and he's fucking cool too.

They are lying to us.

I wanted to post a blog Sunday night but I've been decently busy. Today's news has pushed me over the edge.

Yesterday it was announced that a new comer candidate has beat out a 3 term incumbent senator. A senator who was also the parties nominee for vice president! The big issue in the campaign was the war. The American public is sending a message that this war is out of control. We don't want it anymore! We don't want the imperialist Nixon-style presidency.

So today we have stopped this "attack" on America. Bullshit. How fucking convenient. I pray that the American people aren't fooled by this bullshit any longer. They want us to be scared. They want us to think the republicans are the only ones keeping us safe. That the liberals and progressives in this country will leave us open to being attacked again. They are using our fears to maintain control They want us to surrender our liberties and our freedoms for "safety".

It seems like everytime an election comes up or Bush's numbers go real low they pull this shit. Like a new message from Osama that popped up right before the last election.

Guess what Moff Tarkin (Cheney), Darth Vader (Bush), Emperor Palpatine (Rove), and Jabba the Hut (Rice) we don't need you. You might have destroyed Alderaan (Our personal freedoms) but you will be defeated! This country is gonna pull through your bullshit! All we need is Luke Skywalker.

"Organic Cereal" or "Bats in the Belfry!"

I think I will continue my theme of the double title. Maybe one day they will be puns! I am sitting here eating organic Rice Krispies with some organic milk and it is damned good. Eating organic and healthy is cool. I just wished that I liked more things so I could eat healthy. I just wish I could eat spaghetti all day everyday!

Dipthong practice...Well we played decent. We all seemed incredibly bored. So we were gonna start working on something new and that didn't work. Fucking Patty and Julie were there. Whatever. Talked about the tour but of course it's not gonna happen like I wanted it to. Not everyone has their shit together. Sucks. Hopefully early October. There were 2 bats flying around the hallways. It was very cool. Too bad there were no metal bands around to bite the bat's head off! METAL!!!!!!

I thought about the last 2 weeks. I've played with 3 different bands. 3 guitarists, 3 bass players, 3 drummers. 3 completely different styles of music. I used 3 separate guitars, 3 different style rigs, 3 different heavy guitar tones. It's kinda cool to be able to just jump from band to band like that. If you add Porter and In Dire Need I've hung out with 5 bands doing 5 completely different styles of rock. Rock and roll rules.

I'm listening to new Mastodon. I'm totally pysched for this record. You should check out the 2 songs they have on their myspace yes'm.

You should also listen to the Writer's Almanac podcast. It's great.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

All Hands on Deck.

Ryan Fisher and Chuck Vincent formerly of Downshaft (I was in that band too!) are in a new band called All Hands on Deck. They are joined by Matt Auburn System (that's what we call him his real last name is Bistany) and Rob Himself (I forget Rob's real last name haha). The idea behind the band is "why wait to sell out?" They figure if they are super marketable they'll get signed and can actually make a living doing music. They are doing emo/pop-punk super generic music. It's funny because the songs are actually kind of fun and catchy. Their first show is tomorrow and apparently Chuck is unavailable. So little ol' me is filling in. I learned all the songs tonight and am playing at Drifters in Nashua, NH! Fun Fun Fun.

I'm listening to Panic! at the Disco. Yeah this song is a guilty pleasure. I had a free download on iTunes from a cereal box haha. Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off.