writing
2013 is the year of CROM (or how I will fight Social Media Mob Mentality This Year)
2013 is the year of Crom (he’s the deity of Conan The Barbarian)
The internet is a great thing. It has let us find bands to share with you guys on the podcasts, it lets us know about movie news and comic book happenings. It allows us to meet artists and bands from all over the world and share them with you guys….
But there is a dark side as well. It’s harder to register to vote than it is to put your opinion on the internet. For that reason, my feeds get clogged up with Joe Ordinary’s opinion on everything from gun control to what color of ribbon I should wear, to his bad taste in music.
There is no doubt that while I love being connected to people I admire and get inspired from… I am repeatedly reminded of how we are tasked with promoting independent art, music, film and thought and saving it, showing it in it’s true form before it gets corrupted by hipsters, old money and the others out to make a buck.
On New Year’s Eve, I was hanging out with my friend and artist Don Avlo, and he just said “Crom.” I knew from that moment, Crom was the answer to fight the ridiculousness of the internet with something as equally absurd.
So from now on, when something stupid happens… I will post a Crom post to combat it. Maybe a Meme… like so.
Is it childish? Yes. Bad taste? Of course. Appropriate? No. Why do it? Because we want to and we can would be the normal answer. But really I’m tired. I’m tired of seeing the same old stuff. I’m tired of guilt being shoved down my throat. I was raised to have respect for my fellow man and their beliefs, but when someone tells me “If you don’t like this picture or share this picture you hate God.” Really? Now who is being childish?
The truth is, a lot of these posts are guilt tripped into sharing so the original poster will go viral, and reach more profiles due to the algorithm that Facebook works on. You post the picture of the wounded vet so you can feel better about yourself, then the profile gets popular and seen on everyone’s FB feed, then the poster SELLS the profile to someone else so they can post whatever they like and you have to see it. They call it “like farming” and it really happens. So Crom is here to help me.
Here’s some things you should know:
Crom doesn’t care about Gun Control.
Crom doesn’t care if you like his post or not, he knows you will be struck down anyway
Crom does not answer you. He does not favor weakness
Crom does not care where your politician was born
Crom does not pay taxes.
Since he is the God of Steel, it is fair to say that his favorite genre is heavy metal
So there you have it. Should be a good year
The Thrill Of The Hunt
It seems as though digital music sales have overtaken physical music sales for the first time.
CD sales are down 10 percent, and digital is reigning king. Not surprising, since the ease of finding music online is so readily available. It looks like the most popular non rock categories are punk and indie, and I know that’s a good thing for musicians….
The old guy in me misses the hunt. That’s something that a lot of kids and modern music shoppers will never know.
Growing up, I discovered punk rock at a very important time in my life. I was a new kid in a new school, in my previous one I was bullied and never welcome, coming into a new school, I had a new chance to be somebody else, but learned it was not going to be easy. Then I met a kid named Paul Nasty, he made me a tape one day, and the rest was history…
Punk rock was not easily attainable then. The internet wasn’t what it is now, basically a couple of message boards for Star Trek geeks and text based adventure games. When we wanted something we went hunting. This often involved travelling hours to Houston, Austin or San Antonio to a record store. I remember all their names. But I mostly remember the feeling I would get walking into these tiny cramped spaces crammed with records, zines, stickers, tshirts… my senses on overload as I actually tried to find the right music for the little money I had.
I have spent thousands of dollars over the years on music. My collection has grown into the thousands and I have tried to organize it before, but the feat was too great. Despite this, I still know every CD and record. I can tell you where I was when I got it, and if it’s older than a few years I can tell you what happened on the road trip I went to get it. My music holds certain memories for me. I can remember walking out of a store with a few new purchases in hand, and putting them on the CD player as we headed to the show that night. I remember listening intently to every track, proud of the fact that I had music I couldn’t find in my home town.
I remember the first album I bought online. It was actually Tom Wait’s last album that I had been looking for in various stores before I just gave up and bought it on itunes because music stores are just about obsolete and they don’t carry anything cool. I missed holding the album in my hand, and the artwork. I eventually bought the physical copy, but I just can’t seem to get into digital. I think the ease and convenience of digital has ruined things for people. I always appreciated the obstacles I had to go through to get my music, and the envy of other music lovers when I found something they didn’t. Now… for the right price we can all have the exact same music collection. There seems something wrong with that to me…
Where I’ve been…
It’s been awhile since I wrote. I would be lying if I said there wasn’t a bit of laziness involved, but the truth is, life happened and I was riding the bumps in the road, when it struck me that I had not been blogging (oh but paper journal how many stories you hold)
It sounds hooky, but I feel like the past few months, I have been trying to get more comfortable with my place in the world. I always knew where I stood, but now, I have the direction I know I should stay in. That direction is really writing fiction and playing music. I tried to paint, and draw, thought about making models or doing something interesting, but the only thing that I seem to be slightly good at is writing a tune or telling a story, life is too short to waste chasing things I have no aptitude for (visual art) So with that in mind, here we are, back to square one.
A lot has happened though since I last wrote, here are some highlights:
- After 12 years of loyal service and 2 demotions this past year, I finally left my job in a call center. I do not wish it on anyone, customer service is an oxymoron, and the only thing I got out of it was a dislike for offices and plenty of story ideas for messed up people.
- I got a new job. I love it. I work with my hands and I get to build some of the most awesome machines in the earth moving industry. I help make machines that make the world a bigger and better place. My work is a direct reflection of me, there are no politics in this tier of workers, and for the first time in 12 years, I am proud of my job.
- I proposed to Brea my girlfriend. We’ve been together for a few years. I’m happy. We are both not complacent with life and strive to make everything better in our life. Art, music, writing, our life is a mash up of projects and productiveness. I’m happy to have her in my life. I can’t wait until she’s my bride.
- The Stout City Luchadore EP was picked up by Sinkhole Texas Inc. records and we have already sold out of our stock. The podcast is going strong and just had it’s 100th episode. Everything is good…
Now I need to start writing.
If This Doesn’t Make You Mad, It Should
It’s been a long weekend, but this made headlines, and I can’t wait to vent… It’s OK, watch it… I’ll be right here…
I don’t even know where I want to start with this.
First, I showed this to you for a reason. I have an ulterior motive. The things I’m going to spew aren’t exactly new, but it seems to fall on deaf ears over and over again by the people who have told you this before. I showed you this video because I am sure it’s pissed you off. A lottery winner… Just sit and think about that for a second. When the video was playing the first thought in my head was “Damn, I need to play the lottery a million bucks sounds kind of nice.” I am sure, that your first thought was pretty similar. Even when she defends herself and says ” Well I WON a million but after I took the lump sum it was only like 700,000 then after taxes it was just a little bit over half” and you know… what kind of a paltry sum is half a million anyway? It would take a person who makes 30,000 a year 16 years plus change to rack up half a million bucks. This chick could have taken the million in payments like a normal person and lived very comfortably for 20 years, and if she was a little bit smart (and that’s a stretch to say) she could have saved, invested or even sent herself back to school to get a job or education she always wanted and lived off that money… for a lifetime.
Second, I love the way she looks to the side and smirks when she is asked if she thinks she deserves to stay on welfare and keep using her bridge card. She just got busted, on local television, doing a shitty and immoral thing. She knows she’s in the wrong, but she continues her shitty explanation with a shy smile because she puts the blame back on the system saying she just figured they would cut her off. I also absolutely love the fact that she thinks she “kinda” deserves it… I mean she has no income, two houses a new car… she’s really struggling.
Third, I put this on here because I knew seeing someone who is basically what I consider RICH now, was still collecting aid, (Since she made headlines the powers that be have now suspended her… but only because it made news) and people only seem to get mad at things when they see someone who has gotten it better than them. Remember last year when that 20 and 23 year brother and sister team sued their mom for being a bad parent because she didn’t put money in a birthday card, and made her daughter come home early from a school dance? Those kids lived in a million dollar home… yet.. the mother’s birthday card which had no money or check in it was apparently highly inappropriate.
… I hope you’re with me so far, because here comes the rant.
I am tired of the “Entitlement Generation”. I am tired of people who think that the world owes them something because they are born, can’t get rich with minimal effort and are “struggling”. I am tired of people who have found ways to “exist” without working for their money so they decide to stay on the system as long as they can. We are living in a country that is slowly turning into a society that will soon believe the system has to take care of them from a “cradle to grave” existence.
When America originally started turning over responsibilities that used to be our burden to the government, it was for a more reasonable cause. We were dealing with a large number of uneducated, rural farm people and communities who needed a way to educate children who had no means to do so. Of course, 160 years odd ago, the mentality was different.
You’ve heard the stories and the things your grandparents and maybe even parents used to say. You know the great American dream. But America isn’t really the same anymore (Excuse me this is going to be as little political as possible) The “Great American Resolve” is no longer around. People don’t believe in earning what they get anymore. We want to go to war with a terrorist entity but we want it over in 30 days and no casualties. We want to be famous like the Kardashians, but we don’t want to actually do anything to get famous, so the result is we get more slutty girls on TV and shows like “New Jersey Shore” to show teens that you don’t have to be good at anything to be famous, just have no shame.
Even after reading this, 99% of people are going to forget about it in five minutes and go on to other things. Why? It’s the way we are now wired. We are not wired anymore to believe what our forefathers told us. We believe the new lie and the YMCA “Everybody is a winner” philosophy. We know in our hearts it isn’t true, but we still want to be shocked when shit doesn’t work out for us.
Everyday, I get an email that some of my posts are “too negative” or that I need to “lighten up”. Maybe… some people say I make some valid points, but maybe I need to give people the benefit of the doubt. I say “no”. I lose friends sometimes, but I stand by what I say. Some people agree with me until I touch on a subject that hits close to home, then all of a sudden, I’m a jerk for “going there”.
The truth is, if this was a hundred years ago, the welfare system would be a lot different. Because the attitude of people would be a lot different. There are people who for instance, in WWII, pulled together, invested in war bonds, got us out of the Great Depression and went to fight for a greater good. Now, we can’t understand why other societies hate us, we have no follow through in anything that we say we are going to do, and we don’t want to be censored or taxed, but we expect the government and schools to fix roads, fix education, educate our kids about sex, and a ton of other things. We censor and cut money from the arts (which helped build society and inspired man throughout the ages) and we demand that the people in office fix things for us, when we don’t keep an eye on what they do after we voted the best looking person in office because all our facebook friends do. We don’t want troops in military combat but we sure as hell want someone to go to Uganda and find Kony.
So I may be accused of making a generalization, but it needs to be said. I don’t see government aid as a bad thing if you really need it. I do find it sad that some do nothing to better their situation. Every generation, the parents decide they want to make a better life for their kids. Somewhere along the lines a “better” life turned into a “lazy and easy” life, and we have coddled our kids and allowed them to think they are special and important without even doing anything. When I was a kid and got in trouble at school for being more punk rock in 3rd grade than I should… I dreaded seeing my dad come home from a parent/teacher conference. Today’s parents actually side with their kid when educators call their kid out, thinking that “no teacher is going to tell MY kid how to act” not realizing that if you aren’t teaching your kid right from wrong.. who is? This girl’s own mother even told the press that she isn’t breaking the law so people need to leave her alone and mind their own business. Really? I mean, don’t get me wrong, this is probably the best time to be poor. You can blame the economy, everyone is doing it, everyone is up in arms demanding people handle their debt, and complain because big business CEO’s make money while we struggle in a bad economy built on bad credit we made ourselves. I am an artist, and a capitalist. It allows me to rise and fall at my own risk. I can sink, but if I dare to be great, nothing can stop me. IF lightning should strike and my music makes a million dollars, I know I have done that through recording, touring and hard work, but if I don’t that’s alright because I am following my dream and my heart with all the resolve I can, and when they put me in the ground the day my tired meat shell can’t handle it anymore, the eulogy they give will be the story about a guy who did not take no for an answer and marched to his own drum. I think all artists should think the same.
… So I look at this video and I look at this girl. People get outraged because they wish they could win the lottery like her, and are also mad because she was still drawing money from her bridge card knowing full well she shouldn’t have it anymore, but she smiles and says she will keep using it, I am sure not expecting she would be internet famous for a negative reason. I am ticked at it too, but also more ticked off at ourselves as a society who doesn’t see that we have nurtured this belief in ourselves.
What Society has come to indeed… A girl, a camera, and a serious grudge on Leap Years
So while fishing news and blog feeds for something to talk to you guys about today I came across this which is sure to be viral by the end of the day…
My favorite part of this, is when she says (and seriously means it) “This is what society has come to” I spit out my morning coffee and knew I had my blog of the day…
I know a lot of people don’t really know why we have leap year, they just accept it, but every time we have one, it is explained on news and websites around the world, (and also… in school if you listened in class and um didn’t worry about getting two birthdays)
You see kids, our pesky little mudball you call earth, (but my home planet calls DC789F-JK scheduled for termination 2033) doesn’t play by the rules. It revolves around the sun at it’s own pace. While it’s pretty close to 365 days a year it usually comes in about 5 hours and some change off, making it fashionably late all the time. That’s right kids… your earth has got… swagger. (Ugh I hate that word)
So you see angry girl, if we didn’t add that extra day every four years… we would lose about 5 hours and change every year. After fifty years, (if you’re survival instincts could make it that long) You’re calendar would be off about 12 days, after 100 years, about 24 days.
As for the mad scientist who invented Leap Years, well it was introduced by some guy named JULIUS CAESER. You may want to look him up, he has a few knotches under his belt as far as getting stuff done. I mean, he’s no Lady Gaga or Drake, but he was the ruler of Rome, military badass, a writer of Latin prose, had a play written about him by some English guy and pretty much changed society as a whole whose repercussions we still feel to this day.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, if it came down to passing a bill or convincing the world to give you two birthdays… you might need to make more convincing videos.
Alright Kids, that’s it for the day. Here’s a quarter, now go tell your mom to slap you and for Pete’s sake, do your homework.
Give Punk Rock It’s Balls Back…
I’m not sure if I have every told you guys the story of how I got into punk rock…
FLASHBACK:
I wish I could tell you I was there in the beginning. That I saw Black Flag’s original lineup or FEAR play in a crappy club. I didn’t grow up in an urban city setting on the lower east side. I wish I did from the stories I read. No… I grew up in a small town. Always feeling alien and alone. I never belonged to a club or felt like part of the norm. No, in this small town, I was the kid in the back of the class who identified more with Luke Skywalker than I did with anyone in the class.
Then the day came when my family moved to a bigger town. I guess I should have been excited. There were girls I didn’t know, my school had actual electives instead of just “agriculture for boys and homemaking for girls” (seriously) and the first day of school in this new city, my shoes got stolen from my locker. While I was stoked to have an actual crime happen to me, I quickly realized that I was still going nowhere and still the quiet kid in the back of the class.
All that changed when a lanky kid with a shaved head named Paul Nasty walked into my 9th grade class and borrowed a pencil… Instead of using it to write notes, he drew band logos all over his book. When he gave the pencil back after class, I asked him about the drawings. “Just a bunch of punk bands” he said. I asked him to make me a tape. “Really?” he said. “Really”.
When I got the tape, it said “Kreator” on it. He said it was his brother’s cassette and he just taped over it. There was no song list. I took it home eagerly and went into my room, closed the door, inserted it into my portable jambox and waited… After a few seconds a wall of sound hit the speakers and the most chaotic noise I had ever heard came to life. I wasn’t sure what it was. But it changed my life. I listened to the whole thing without stopping. Some was better than most, but one thing was for sure… I had never heard this before, and I knew I was changed.
Hearing songs about being an outcast. Hearing songs about being different and not complacent about where you were. The drive an energy of someone who is screaming “NO” as loud as they can over a set of speakers. This is what I needed. I remember hearing certain songs and saying “yes… I need that. Yes this is me.” And just like that I was a fan. I never looked back, and although my appearance has gone from weird kid with no fashion sense, to punk rocker, to bootboy hooligan, back to man with no fashion sense… I have never stopped supporting and believing in the music that I loved.
PRESENT DAY
Punk Rock… to me… has always been about this. To me, Punk has always been no holds barred, do what you feel, a voice that never backs down. It has been a voice of empowerment, giving strength to those who have always sought it out.
So what I don’t understand… is how over the decades… the music I love has become a hotbed for the “ists” in life. (I can just imagine the hate mail now) You know what I mean… “the feminisits, the anarchists, the occupyists” not to mention the anti capitalists, anti big business, anti steroetype, pro PC… etc.. you get the idea. It seems that people have been so against the man, they become so “anti facist” they build a set of rules for a genre and subculture that had no rules to begin with… and again… I become alien.
I flip through a popular punk rock zine. The most popular one, in fact I don’t even have to name it if you know anything about punk rock you know which one I’m talking about… and I see this article that finally pissed me off for the last time.
The article is about “not getting called out”. So I’m thinking. “Cool an article about not being fake, standing your ground and not getting called out for being a poser or something right?”
Nope.
The article is about one girl, who has noticed in her “community of punks” that people have a habit of saying the wrong things and putting their foot in their mouth. She mentions an example about a person saying they don’t like chick singers and then everyone labels him a sexist. Instead of saying “Wow… maybe he just has a preference and can’t find any girl singers he likes” she gives a set of steps so the guy can recover and apologize for offending people. NO SHIT… I had to laugh. You want to know the steps don’t you? Here they were: 1)Breathe 2) shut up and listen to what people are trying to tell you 3) Kill your intentions dont cling to them 4) assume their intentions are good 5) Ask, seize the opportunity to make amends and learn 6) Learn and reflect…. yup what kind of bullshit is that?
Seriously… what kind of bullshit is THAT? This is not the music I grew up with, this is not the genre I love or the subculture I know. When did we turn ourselves into a quivering set of eunuchs? When did punk lose it’s balls and power to shake shit up and not apologize? If I don’t like chick singers, maybe it’s cause I like a certain song better with gruff vocals (I love chick singers by the way I’m just saying) If I think something is stupid, why can’t I say it and be proud. I eat meat. I don’t care. I drink like a fish. I don’t care. I like girls and fast music and I believe in capitalism because I think that indie bands should be free to make as much money as they deserve. I hate censorship of any kind… and that includes censorship of each other. I would never censor this girl, but I also have the right to rebuttal her idiotic article, and call it idiotic.
We as a society have let things go to far. We are so worried about being what we hate, we became what we hate… self censoring jackasses that follow the crowd. If that is your definition of “punk” you can have it. I’m going to go listen to my FEAR cd now.
Burnin’ Bridges: A 2012 Manifesto
So yesterday, I broke a cardinal rule in social networking. I got pissed off and put my personal view online, and participated in the firefight afterward to defend my thoughts. I should not have done that online. It’s a rule that I sternly believe in, and a few times a decade, find myself falling into it’s trap. It’s the human trait “pride” that does it, and one of the flaws that make me wish I was a robot. (Well that and a cool grappling hook hand)
Without hashing too much of it again… but totally for set up purposes, here is the gist: In 2009, my band THE LOVELETTER met a girl who was dating our drummer who appeared intelligent and with it, claimed to be in the know about bands, so we asked her to be our manager. After a 6 month honeymoon period, things began to go south with this person, as they proved not capable of promoting, pushing her client (us), and the band became subject to being bumped on lineups, schedules, and even overlooked on shows altogether when said person got a job booking at a local venue. While this was recently all settled with this now “promoter”, the band gets bumped one more time recently, and I taking it as the last straw, declare to not work with or drink at that venue again or work with that person. There is a lot more to the story, but this… is the main core of it, this is not a surprise to the “promoter” as I have addressed this with them before.
Because I have stated I will no longer frequent this bar, a shitfire of opinions have since been raised. My inbox and comments have been flooded with comments and similar stories, I have somehow become a spokesperson for live artists and a bane for venues and “promoters”. This has led to a ton of things I feel the need to say… not out of this particular instance, (because I am sure some people will read too much into it) but because as performers and people in the industry, you got to know the rules or make up your own. So without further ado… here they are… my set of beliefs and rules that if everyone followed… would make everything easier. I figured I would take this time as my pages will be smoking hot the next few days with trolls looking for aftermath.
THE BURNING BRIDGES MANIFESTO
VENUES:
We get it. You’re main focus point is to make money. If you don’t make money in your bar… why bother? Hey man, I ain’t knocking that, I am encouraging it. But if you want to make money with live music, you have to do a few things. Treat your bands good, a free bar tab or beer tickets go a long way (kudos to the former bar I would play at for this, this was always nice) A guest list since the bands get the door anyway, and if you want to make money on live music, you have to act like it, which means you have to do some promoting besides leaving it up to the band or “promoter” and if you want to book the same bands over and over, make it a house cover band, don’t keep booking the same original band lineup every two weeks. But I understand you are in the bar biz not the band biz, so you’ll want to work with good promoters, but please… if you put one on the payroll… make sure they know more than 5 bands.
PROMOTERS:
I’ve been playing music live since 1994. Yup. Beepers were popular and the Cowboys were a winning team. In that time I have met a few GOOD promoters. They are: Joe and Crystal from Right Brigade, Evil Ritchie from DMK, Pedro from DCM, and those cooky DelaGarza boys. I may be forgetting some but those were the ones that stuck out year after year, putting rent money up for a cause they believed in and booking tight bands knowing they may or may not make their money. God… I miss these people.
Nowadays, all you have to be to be a “promoter” is the middle man, hooking up show with venue, and no out of pocket (if there is you’re doing it wrong). But there really is more to being a promoter. You have to be aware of what I stated above, you can’t keep booking the same acts (and if you do you need to rotate the lineup order every show) and if you don’t know more than 8 bands because your super former client introduced you to them, then you need to go make your own connections, get out of your comfort zone and take a chance on things you believe in. If you bump your bands repeatedly, book them for the same gig after gig they feel like they are on groundhog day, and complain about the stress of it, I really doubt you are capable or ready to handle a bigger band or client when you have to have something on the line. The last time I booked a show for a touring band, I paid triple digits out of pocket and the other bands agreed not to get paid so the touring band would have money to get to the next destination. If you bump something or decide to quit the show because it’s too much trouble or you don’t want to deal with it, you have no heart. And maybe you’re better off as a spectator. There’s nothing wrong with spectators… they are in my manifesto too.
MANAGERS:
If you are a manager. Your core existence is taking care of your client and help raise up the band. If they make money, you make money,if they get popular, you get popular, as a manager, you are officially part of the band, so when you start dealing with others and put your own client last (if at all) then you’re not fulfilling your job that you agreed to do. A good manager knows what a “conflict of interest” is. So one should be careful of taking booking jobs that will conflict with their current client. This is not a new business concept. Ad companies, vendor companies, and even fast food chains do it with soda products. I’m leaving this brief, because since managers are a great luxury, I have yet to meet one who can walk the walk.
BANDS:
OK here we go… the last 24 hours, my inbox has been flooded with requests, well wishes and “right ons” from other musicians and former bands around the local area. There are so many of you who are behind the choice I made to stop performing and frequenting this bar for a principle. While this is cool, the one thing I can’t shake is “I’m just doing what everyone else is thinking”.
Guys, we need to stand up for ourselves. We need to let people know that what we do is badass and worth it. We have succumbed to a society where facebook apathy and laziness has prevailed. We need to make it cool and exciting to see a show again and we need to give people a reason to keep coming out. These days, the modern fan is a lazy ass. They don’t need to buy cd’s they can rip it off the internet, they are so busy trying to pose for cool pictures in their restroom to post to facebook (or those pictures they took themselves that try to look like they didn’t take it themselves) to care about you. You need to up your price and your value. If the bars or promoters don’t want to pay it, go onto the next, if there is no next, either rent your own venue or go out of town. This is what I do. It’s fucking awesome and liberating to have this. When people do call, make sure it is what you want, not what they want. Other people will walk over you if they can. It takes guts to do what you do and damned it, go do it. I hate to tell this to you, but no one gives a shit about your band, you have to go and make them give a shit, you have to break out of your comfort zone and leave this city behind. It’s way more liberating to play a show in Houston where no one knows you and hear “great show I enjoyed it” from one person than a hundred of your friends sucking your junk because they have to. Trust me on this. No one got famous playing Victoria, all anyone gets is “Big Fish Small Pond syndrome” and then you only end up disappointed when the cool train leaves.
FANS, SPECTATORS, and EVERYONE ELSE.
This place and scene wouldn’t be possible without you. So grow up and go to a show. No one cares about your FB status (you’re not me) and its better than staying home complaining about your town. Your best friends and colleagues play music that would blow you away if you just listened. Holy shit you are missing out.
PEOPLE ON MY FACEBOOK, TWITTER, OR ANY OTHER SOCIAL NETWORK SITE
For the love of fucking Satan, please do not preach to me about music or your opinions on my space. Especially if you disagree with me. You can’t change my mind, you will lose your argument and Jesus says you are stupid. God must love Stupid… because you jerks are everywhere trying to argue with me on a spot of the internet I moderate (just like this blog dumbass)
What I hate are the moral people who tell me since I am a musician I should like all types of music, This is like telling a chef he should like taco bell. Just because it’s edible doesnt mean it won’t give you the shits. Seriously people.
You can call me childish because I refuse to accept your views, but remember… every social bio I post, I say I am a jerk, so you coming in here and trying to change me is like my 1st wife doing the same thing. I am a 6 year old who drinks… who’s the real asshole?
I don’t like dubstep. So what… fucking sue me. The fact I was bumped for a dubstep show was unfortunate but I also don’t feel the need to stifle my previous comments since they were directed at a genre. I also don’t like new country, Celine Dion, Micheal W Smith, Lil Wayne, Canadian whiskey or domestic beer. If you want a list of the things I don’t like, it’s too long, so please for the love of God, unfriend me or block me if it’s that big of a deal to you. Trying to tell me what to do well only get you a snarky remark, your feelings hurt and all my friends laughing at you… again.
So in closing. Bickering on the internet is stupid. My bad! But look at this awesome post I just wrote… guess it wasn’t all bad.
TIM= 1
World= 0
The Season… Bah Humbug
The Holidays are upon us. I don’t really care for them.
When I was a kid. I used to like them a lot. There was a magic about it, my parents have always tried to keep that magic, I am envious of them for that.
It has become apparent to me in recent years, with all the trials and tribulations that I have gone through, that I am not in the same boat. I’m sure I could watch a movie or some network tv show about Christmas that is tailored to try to get some sort of emotion out of me, but it is hard when I know that that movie or television show is not really meant to do that, but for me to buy something.
Don’t get me wrong, the economy needs you guys to go out and spend money. But I just feel like this season is turning sour for all the wrong reasons. Businesses don’t care about us, they care about their bottom line. And the majority of people are only concerned with what they want and not what they need. I’m not talking about those people who bitch and moan about the vacuum they got over the flat screen they wanted (but I sort of am too) but I am also talking about the need of human kindness.
We need that more than ever. More suicides happen this time than any other year, and your worried about your flat screen TV or new electronic Nook you want as a gift. You go to the malls and literally fight traffic and people for the biggest deal. And then on Christmas, you give these gifts out and secretly judge others on what they give you. Do things change? No. Is the world a better place? No.
I used to have really high hopes for people. Now I see I live in a world where they complain what is on cable and how their favorite sports team is doing…. and people wonder why I like punk rock so much or will spend so much time trying to buck the system. Why I would rather spend my time making music, or writing sad dark stories about people in awful situations. It is a reflection of what is around me. The more I learn about others, the more turned off I am. I’ve worked retail, and seen both sides of the customer (having been one as well) I’ve seen the perfectly nice housewife turn into a psychotic when it comes time to shop for others. I’ve seen parents so afraid if their child will reject them for not giving the right gift.
How do we change that? How do we change the reasons for what we do? I have. I choose not to participate in this celebration of human greed, cruelty and menace. It is a shame no one else does. People talk about doing good. No one can walk the walk. So I say… Scrooge was right in a sense. Only this time, I am Scrooge. But I am not the greedy evil man. Everyone else is.
Chew on that.
Death, Folk Art, and Literary Badasses
Today is All Saints Day, Tomorrow is All Souls Day. Only really means stuff to you if you’re religious I guess. I was raised in South Texas in a Mexican family, so this obviously means Dia De Los Muertos to me.
My favorite “holiday”. I love the folk art etc.
Anyway… just thought you’d like to know.
Let’s see…
Ummm… I went to that Spoken Word. It was lame like I figured it would be, I really did want to give it a chance, but there were maybe two serious people there, and the rest made it seem like hip hop amateur hour as they made fun of everything and got on the mic and tried (emphasize the word TRIED )to rap when they got on. I left the place feeling more alien than usual.
Not all bad though, I met one of the poets I really liked at a Halloween party Saturday, we talked a bit about writing and such, and I told him about my idea to have a posse of literary badasses. Not necessarily a writers club, just a badass group of smart people who happen to write who get together and hang out. If we talk about writing… cool, but if we drink each other stupid and tell dumb stories about road trips and bad lovers, even better… he seemed to dig it, he’s going to hang out with me and Brea Wednesday and we’re gonna trade obscure poems and movie monster analogies or something (I made that part up)
NaNoWriMo started today. I’m excited but lamed out. I lost my drive for the plot I had two weeks ago, I’m worried I can’t finish it. Really I don’t know if I can. Instead of doing what I wanted to, I’m thinking I might just write a story about someone falling in love. I don’t think I’ve ever done that. I’ve killed my characters, messed them up, traumatized them, got them laid, got them fired… but I’ve never let one fall in love. Maybe I’m messed up, but I wouldn’t wish that torture on anyone.
Oh well… NaNoWriMo beckons… see ya soon.
A Night With Poor Favor…
Last night, I traveled with my friends in the band Poor Favor as they played the Red Eyed Fly in Austin TX. It was a good night for me, because I didn’t have to worry about playing or getting people in the club, I was just along for the ride, and to help Danny from falling asleep at the wheel on the dreaded drive back home. The band is a great one. Kind of this weird little indie jam band with a little T.Rex sensibility.
I shot video last night with the 8mm app on my iphone. You can check it out here:
Tonight, I am honestly thinking about checking out a spoken word gathering, in which area writers get together and read stuff out loud. I do not know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, I really am on a quest to meet like minded people. People who feel they have to write because they were born to do it. People who have great ideas about their craft. People who are pushing their own envelope. Not just using fancy words, but simple words effectively.
The one thing I don’t want is to go to a big wankfest where everyone just sucks each other off and gives each other false encouragement with no real criticism or suggestions. How can you improve if you are surrounded by yes men? I would rather read to a dead crowd and be chased through the streets for my awful ideas, prose and plot than get false head. I am very cautious about tonight. But, ever the glutton for punishment, I will go in hopes that I will meet at least one person who is like me in which to create my bad ass literary posse and give this town the new book scare it deserves.
