Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Weekend Fun Times
This weekend was very much fun.
Wilco was playing on the end of the Maine State Pier, it was very cool. I saw Moe. there last year, and it was good, so being moderate Wilco fans, we decided if we could get in for cheap, we would!
The lady and I heading over to the Dry Dock for drinks and dinner. The service there is nothing short of terrible. It took no less than 15 minutes to get a drink while we were sitting at the bar. The kid was overwhelmed and had no idea what he was really doing. Whatever, it's all good. We got a spot on the top deck so we could see the show. We ordered our food and it soon got cold out. I ran across the street and bought us a couple of long sleeved shirts. We met up with a couple friends, who had Wilco tickets.
After dinner, we walked up to the gate area. You could see the stage, kind of. We were thinking about leaving and the lady asked the women at the ticket booth if they had any tickets for sale. She said she did, and they were $30. I offered $40 for two, and they took it, which was awesome, as I think we had only missed a couple of songs. Wilco is great live, very tight, very fun. Took this video:
We ended up running into tons of people, and having a blast. After the show, we took some peeps to Amigo's to watch Nippin The Nub. I used to play with them, and it was super cool to see everyone again.
Saturday started off overcast, but I used the opportunity to record a song, that apparently I've been singing in the morning for the past few days. I think it will be called "I Have." Anyway, the sun came out and we decided to ride on the big motorcycle. It actually worked, which was great. We headed up to Yarmouth for the Clam festival, but did not actually get off the bike. We did around 70 miles. It was awesome. The evening was mellow and smooth and relaxing.
Sunday featured yet another sweet motorcycle ride. We went out to Cousin's Island in Freeport. It was pretty cool, nice new paved roads over there. Stopped for an incredible phallic looking chocolate covered banana. Once we got home, we decided to take the scooters out. Everything was going smoothly until "randy" (the silver and black scooter) just stopped working. It's a pain in the ass to access these batteries, and I was sure thats where the problem was. I bounced the rear wheel and the little red light came on. We turned around, and I got to Payson Park. She went home to get the bocce set, and we rocked it under the sun for at least an hour. It was an epic game. The scooter made it home, where I took it apart and found the culprit, a loose battery connection, that had actually melted some of the plastic on the casing. It's all better now though!
Rode the green boy into work today, as the motorcycle won't run in the morning.
Wilco was playing on the end of the Maine State Pier, it was very cool. I saw Moe. there last year, and it was good, so being moderate Wilco fans, we decided if we could get in for cheap, we would!
The lady and I heading over to the Dry Dock for drinks and dinner. The service there is nothing short of terrible. It took no less than 15 minutes to get a drink while we were sitting at the bar. The kid was overwhelmed and had no idea what he was really doing. Whatever, it's all good. We got a spot on the top deck so we could see the show. We ordered our food and it soon got cold out. I ran across the street and bought us a couple of long sleeved shirts. We met up with a couple friends, who had Wilco tickets.
After dinner, we walked up to the gate area. You could see the stage, kind of. We were thinking about leaving and the lady asked the women at the ticket booth if they had any tickets for sale. She said she did, and they were $30. I offered $40 for two, and they took it, which was awesome, as I think we had only missed a couple of songs. Wilco is great live, very tight, very fun. Took this video:
We ended up running into tons of people, and having a blast. After the show, we took some peeps to Amigo's to watch Nippin The Nub. I used to play with them, and it was super cool to see everyone again.
Saturday started off overcast, but I used the opportunity to record a song, that apparently I've been singing in the morning for the past few days. I think it will be called "I Have." Anyway, the sun came out and we decided to ride on the big motorcycle. It actually worked, which was great. We headed up to Yarmouth for the Clam festival, but did not actually get off the bike. We did around 70 miles. It was awesome. The evening was mellow and smooth and relaxing.
Sunday featured yet another sweet motorcycle ride. We went out to Cousin's Island in Freeport. It was pretty cool, nice new paved roads over there. Stopped for an incredible phallic looking chocolate covered banana. Once we got home, we decided to take the scooters out. Everything was going smoothly until "randy" (the silver and black scooter) just stopped working. It's a pain in the ass to access these batteries, and I was sure thats where the problem was. I bounced the rear wheel and the little red light came on. We turned around, and I got to Payson Park. She went home to get the bocce set, and we rocked it under the sun for at least an hour. It was an epic game. The scooter made it home, where I took it apart and found the culprit, a loose battery connection, that had actually melted some of the plastic on the casing. It's all better now though!
Rode the green boy into work today, as the motorcycle won't run in the morning.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Saw it at the Cinemagic (proper name for the film) in Westbrook.
Don't get me wrong, it's a good movie. It's beautifully shot, and the acting is good enough. The effects are spectacular, but there's something about it that rubbed me the wrong way. - The writing.
Steve Kloves has written so many harry potter scripts that they have become predictable and scripted. I felt as thought I knew what would happen before it did.
MAJOR KEY points were dropped, like oh I don't know- DUMBELDORES FUNERAL! It's the best chapter of the book, and it was completely cut out. what bullshit.
This movie had none of the suspense that was ever so important in the book. Trying to figure out they mysteries came all too easy to these characters. I felt the liberties taken were too much with the changes. I will never get over the fact that they cut Dumbeldore's funeral. This was my favorite book, and I am pretty disappointed about hardly a mention of Harry's loss of Sirius, or the hidden love between Tonks and Lupin. No minister of magic talking to the muggle prime minister.
To be fair they did leave in some good stuff too. the Cave scene was awesome to see Dumbeldore weak and crying. I would have liked to see this expanded upon. I seem to recall harry having a hard time getting Dumbeldore home as he cant Aporate. They showed no mention of this.
It's honestly a shame that they have such a spineless director who has no backbone when it comes to taking chances. He is doing exactly what he is told by the studio, and they don't really care how good or bad it is because they are going to make a billion dollars. I say can all the existing HP7 footage and let peter jackson or del toro, or curon start from scratch and make ONE good movie. The mere fact that they are splitting it up into two only speaks in words at the greed of WB and JK. Fuck that shit.
Don't get me wrong, it's a good movie. It's beautifully shot, and the acting is good enough. The effects are spectacular, but there's something about it that rubbed me the wrong way. - The writing.
Steve Kloves has written so many harry potter scripts that they have become predictable and scripted. I felt as thought I knew what would happen before it did.
MAJOR KEY points were dropped, like oh I don't know- DUMBELDORES FUNERAL! It's the best chapter of the book, and it was completely cut out. what bullshit.
This movie had none of the suspense that was ever so important in the book. Trying to figure out they mysteries came all too easy to these characters. I felt the liberties taken were too much with the changes. I will never get over the fact that they cut Dumbeldore's funeral. This was my favorite book, and I am pretty disappointed about hardly a mention of Harry's loss of Sirius, or the hidden love between Tonks and Lupin. No minister of magic talking to the muggle prime minister.
To be fair they did leave in some good stuff too. the Cave scene was awesome to see Dumbeldore weak and crying. I would have liked to see this expanded upon. I seem to recall harry having a hard time getting Dumbeldore home as he cant Aporate. They showed no mention of this.
It's honestly a shame that they have such a spineless director who has no backbone when it comes to taking chances. He is doing exactly what he is told by the studio, and they don't really care how good or bad it is because they are going to make a billion dollars. I say can all the existing HP7 footage and let peter jackson or del toro, or curon start from scratch and make ONE good movie. The mere fact that they are splitting it up into two only speaks in words at the greed of WB and JK. Fuck that shit.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Ween 2009.07.10 Portland, Maine
The sun was out, the air was cool, and we were going to see Ween. A long time fan, I was more than excited to see them back in the town in which I call home, Portland, Maine. I got out of work at 3pm and went straight home. Simone and I hung out in our yard, and consumed a few cold beers, which were delicious. We cabbed it into town where we got our tickets and ate at the dogfish head, which is a short walk away. We met up with my friend Mike, who drove up from Boston. We kept running into people we knew everywhere we went. It was fun. Upon entering the venue, I ran into two good friends who I don't see enough, at the same time. It was great to kind of talk to them. I have to admit, I was a little drunk at this point. After buying a sweet print of the poster from the show, we found our spot for the night- the VIP section near the front of the stage. Was it worth the extra $15 per ticket charge? 100%. Everyone up there was super cool. I even had one dude tell me not to slouch because he was tall enough to see over us. I had extremely high hopes for this show, and was not disappointed. The band took the stage about 10 minutes after we got up there and with a ferocity I had not been expecting, proceeded to rock the hell out of the joint for the next 2.5 hours.
Piss up a Rope was a perfect opener. Opening with a Dean song got the place pumped and it was clear how into the show everyone was going to be.
The Golden Eel is one of my favorite songs, and was played quite well.
Flutes of Chi was unexpected- in a good way, I love this tune and they don't play it enough.
Johnny on the Spot Captain Fantasy The Grobe - the trifecta of ball busting rock- was overwhelemed by the screaming solos that were truly inspiring. All played to the perfection of rock Ween is known for.
Zoloft was a nice breather, followed by
Sorry Charlie which is so much fun. I love this song. Another Deaner gem.
Learnin to Live was fun, and the first song off La Cucuracha. The crowd loved it.
Little Birdy AWESOME
Laura AWESOMER Can't say too much about this brown mess. other than it was very very sketchy. Gener had some really strange moments.
Even If You Don't was standard, but is a good song, and sounded great.
Wavin My Dick in the Wind pretty good, Claude was KILLING his solos.
Freedom of 76 was perfect. I have never seen this song live before, and was quite suprised how fucking awesome it was. I love it and was wondering what they were going to pull out next.
Woman & Man was possibly the high point of the show for me. I was completely zoned out to Deaner, and he was playing like his life depended on it. Just fucking tearing up the carpet with this one.
I Don't Want It was a welcome song after getting my face melted off.
Pork Roll Egg & Cheese - fun
Your Party also fun.
Roses are Free- crowd loved it, pretty standard version.
El Camino- I was not expecting this, but damn, was it ever awesome... followed by
Buenos Tardes- shit yeah! what double shot! Dos bier bitte.
At this point, i was pretty excited to hear just one more song, but we were treated to 6!
Encore:
HIV Buckingham were tight and sweet.
Honesty was strange and brown as shit. They played it twice, and then teased My Life.
Sketches of Winkle was ROCKING,
The Mollusk had some nice improvised talk from Gener that I would love to hear, cause I couldn't really understand. It was a great way to end on a happy note as we left into the world.
All in all, I don't think the show could have been much better.
I would say it's probably the best they have sounded. The club was perfect for them. This was my third show at the venue and by far the best. The first time I set foot in the place, I said to Simone, "Wow this place would be perfect for Ween to play, too bad they never will cause it's too small." Never have I been so happy to be proven wrong.
After the show, we hung out in the alley next to the venue and met Gene and Glen who both signed our sweet ass poster. Waited till about 130 for more of the band, but no one else came out. The staff could have let us in after an hour of waiting to get a signature, but they wouldn't.
Awesome Show!
Piss up a Rope was a perfect opener. Opening with a Dean song got the place pumped and it was clear how into the show everyone was going to be.
The Golden Eel is one of my favorite songs, and was played quite well.
Flutes of Chi was unexpected- in a good way, I love this tune and they don't play it enough.
Johnny on the Spot Captain Fantasy The Grobe - the trifecta of ball busting rock- was overwhelemed by the screaming solos that were truly inspiring. All played to the perfection of rock Ween is known for.
Zoloft was a nice breather, followed by
Sorry Charlie which is so much fun. I love this song. Another Deaner gem.
Learnin to Live was fun, and the first song off La Cucuracha. The crowd loved it.
Little Birdy AWESOME
Laura AWESOMER Can't say too much about this brown mess. other than it was very very sketchy. Gener had some really strange moments.
Even If You Don't was standard, but is a good song, and sounded great.
Wavin My Dick in the Wind pretty good, Claude was KILLING his solos.
Freedom of 76 was perfect. I have never seen this song live before, and was quite suprised how fucking awesome it was. I love it and was wondering what they were going to pull out next.
Woman & Man was possibly the high point of the show for me. I was completely zoned out to Deaner, and he was playing like his life depended on it. Just fucking tearing up the carpet with this one.
I Don't Want It was a welcome song after getting my face melted off.
Pork Roll Egg & Cheese - fun
Your Party also fun.
Roses are Free- crowd loved it, pretty standard version.
El Camino- I was not expecting this, but damn, was it ever awesome... followed by
Buenos Tardes- shit yeah! what double shot! Dos bier bitte.
At this point, i was pretty excited to hear just one more song, but we were treated to 6!
Encore:
HIV Buckingham were tight and sweet.
Honesty was strange and brown as shit. They played it twice, and then teased My Life.
Sketches of Winkle was ROCKING,
The Mollusk had some nice improvised talk from Gener that I would love to hear, cause I couldn't really understand. It was a great way to end on a happy note as we left into the world.
All in all, I don't think the show could have been much better.
I would say it's probably the best they have sounded. The club was perfect for them. This was my third show at the venue and by far the best. The first time I set foot in the place, I said to Simone, "Wow this place would be perfect for Ween to play, too bad they never will cause it's too small." Never have I been so happy to be proven wrong.
After the show, we hung out in the alley next to the venue and met Gene and Glen who both signed our sweet ass poster. Waited till about 130 for more of the band, but no one else came out. The staff could have let us in after an hour of waiting to get a signature, but they wouldn't.
Awesome Show!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Gear Update
I am going to be doing some solo gigs soon. In order to make them more awesome I purchased a new piece of equipment. It is the Boss RC-20xl looping station. I traded in some stuff i don't need and only ended up having to pay $70 out of pocket for it- list is $250. This pedal is pretty amazing. It has 16 minutes of looping awesomeness, and you can create and manage different phrases while performing live. It's going to take a while to get used to but I'm sure it will be awesome.
I also got an MXR Dyna Comp compression pedal- it does the subtle job i need it to.
Here are the updated boards:
Acoustic:
Electric:
On another musical related note, I have decided to no longer play music with the Grumps. The sole reason is that the schedule is just too time consuming. It was a hard decision to make, but I was feeling exhausted after only a few weeks of regular playing out. I wish them all the best.
I also got an MXR Dyna Comp compression pedal- it does the subtle job i need it to.
Here are the updated boards:
Acoustic:
Electric:
On another musical related note, I have decided to no longer play music with the Grumps. The sole reason is that the schedule is just too time consuming. It was a hard decision to make, but I was feeling exhausted after only a few weeks of regular playing out. I wish them all the best.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
parti
Fireworks are fun, but hard to photograph.
Lily is a disco/rave kitty. But Eddie would rather sleep.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
A Morning Crow
This morning, I was coming into work and I saw a crow eating something. As I got closer, it looked like guts of an animal or maybe a clam or mussel. It could have been trash, I don't really know. If I had a twitter account, that's what I would post about. It was disgusting.
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