Since this week is "the week" of you know, that holiday, I wish you all something. I dont know what that something is, but something good, something, anything you want. Whatever you want, I want you to know that I'm hoping you get your wish.
But on a side note, Taking Back Sunday is all I have been listening to. I feel as if I'm in high school again. Its taking places, you have no idea. Well, Happy Holidays, now get on with your lives.
"That Week"
The End
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Somebody sent me a message with this link. They said this video reminded them of me. I don't really know if its a compliment, but thats how I'm taking it. God Bless.
Obama Culture Club
Well, I just thought the world was ready for this. Another GOFFGOUGH creation lies before you.
Tomorrows Tulips
Tomorrows Tulips formed on August 15th when Alex Knost bought a piccalo snare drum at the thrift store and handed it to Christina. The two spent 3 nights at Mike McQ’s distillery studio organizing some sort of an idea on how to play together. While socializing with Mike and discussing what to call the group it became vaguely clear what to do. The duo consists of stripped down pop that often disregards professionalism in anyway shape and form. Absolute Fearlessness prevails in creating songs that revolve around subject matter that consists of flowers, happiness, love, haircuts, friends, and un-macho-ism. TT will continue to make songs on cassette tape and post them on the internet until the release of the full length album that will be recorded at the distillery in late September and released on vinyl, cassette and cd in October 2009. Then with a VW bug tour across America to follow.
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B.FLOW
I just thought that maybe you guys out there in the internetz should know what this all means, well, its awesome. Check. It is Black + White. Check. It has red as an accent color. Check. It has Brandon Flowers on it. Check. It has to do with the KILLERS. Check. It says my name on it. Check. It says STU's name on it. Check. That is why its on my blog. CHECK.
America The Great
No one should ever have the power to dictate your life. Choose your own adventure. You can't always win. But you can always play by your own rules.
-Gabe Saporta
Oct 31st Killed Me
I HATE Halloween. Its lame. Its pointless. People should not need a holiday to get dressed up. Its just a fake holiday. But thats now that this post is about. What its mostly about is how I had the worst, I mean WORST weekend I have ever hard, and it happened all on Halloween day.
But before I get into that day particularly, I'm just going to let you in on something that happened last weekend. On my way to see the movie It Might Get Loud, a documentary on the electric guitar, I got in an accident and rear ended someone who stopped on a green light in the MIDDLE of the intersection. WTF right. Oh and PS, the movie I was going to see, quit playing the night before. FML.
Now to Halloween. On paper, the day itself was supposed to be a decent day, besides the fact it was Halloween. But who are we kidding, it sucked. It started out fine. I was in the right place at the right time, yet I still got screwed over. My car window got bashed in and my stereo was stolen. Of coarse I filed a police report, but we all know that does nothing. Whoever stole my subs and amp out of my trunk, broke my passenger window, glass was everywhere, then reached over and popped my trunk and wiped everything out. Left my CD player in the dash, but my trunk was left empty. Who ever did it prolly has a dozen CD players laying around and didn't need my ghetto one cluttering up their stash.
Not only did they ruin my car, they ruined my plans for the day. I was supposed to be going to an MFO, (mandatory-family-outing with my parents, one of my brothers and his wife) which was lunch and the Michael Jackson movie, This Is It. Luckily I have an awesome older brother who helped me out. While I called him only to tell him his stereo stuff he was letting me use was stolen, he just started to help by calling around and finding me a window. After finding a window at a junk yard, its almost time for the movie, since he wasn't going to the movie, he drove me back to Salt Lake and then volunteered to replace my shattered window while I was with the other half of my family. How nice is that?
By making the rest of the night as good as I possibly could with a start to a crappy day, I decided to relax in the hot tub. Once again, I get screwed over. My phone ends up being too close to the tub and gets covered in steam, leading my phone to look and act like its been in a puddle for the past hour. So now to top off my day, my phone decides to quit working. All in one day that people call Halloween, my car gets jacked and my phone breaks. This day was HELL. Happy effing HELLoween.
Now, I know this sounds like a poor me blog post, but srsly people, I just blame Halloween. They say bad things come in sets of 3. Lets count them out...
1. I got in a car accident last weekend
2. My car window got bashed into pieces and my stereo gets stolen
3. My Blackberry, my life, gets wet and now its just a fancy paperweight with a keyboard
I guess the one thing I'm grateful for out of all this is my the fact that I still don't have the Swine flu.
\
Missing In Action
I've been missing for the past week. Don't worry, I will be back soon. I just need to find myself, Jesus and more friends. Bare with me people.
I lub you all.
The Summers End
Its Labor Daybor. Well, its the night/ending of Labor Day. I sit here and realize that summer is over. So, I would like to take this time to recall how much has happened over the past 4 and a half months. In no particular order:
I had a birthday, I made new friends (in real life and on facebook), I lost some friends, two musical icons left us, watched Hema play shows, had an awesome Kool-Aid social to kick off the summer, had a tea party in the middle of the rain, had a BBQ with one of my new heroes, met Beardo, went to a show at the famous ROXY in downtown LA, got searched + questioned and still got out of Mexico with out a passport, watched Mason loose his money in Vegas, spent $10 on a hamburger, sold a text book for 50 bones, my brother got married, Sarah Morrison started following me on twtiter, discovered a lot of new music, found a new favorite pair of jeans, Chris came home from his mission, Joe started to mandrate, my best friend discovered a long lost brother, watched Mason buy home-made rap CDs from black dudes at Venice Beach, bought some TOMS/donated a pair of shoes to a child in need, I came to adore the Holladay Homegirls, got married on facebook, made black/white lifestyle tshirts, counted all the shirts I own, bought a new sailor necklace in Mexico, wrote/sang a song with Kelli and Hema and dedicated it to Mason, sat around a fire and ate popsicles, went swimming just about every day, visited over 5 American Apparels' in less than a week, saw Michael Jacksons star in Hollywood, bought a leather jacket, had more than one failed summer fling, watched TV seasons/series on DVD nightly, got more followers on twitter, created a new facebook group, became a proud owner of a domain, had the best road trip of my life, got caught up in some drama, attempted to clean my room multiple times, sat on the curb while Kelli sang a song that she wrote for me/about me, skated with Kyle, had dinner with a friend from high school, went camping, made an official business card, had some come to Jesus talks with Justin + Katie, saw a rival from high school and made amends, hung out with my favorite aunt Vangie, started wearing rosaries for some reason, talked with an intern at a record label for hours, made little Asian girls mad at a concert, failed my eye test to renew my license, started to wear fake Buddy Holly glasses for a half second, went to a lame dollar movie with Stu, tried to keep up on my blog, made fun of Cooper for buying his Baby Boo Camero, almost peed in a Dairy Queen cup with dried up ice cream in Masons car, made a list of all the reasons why me and Annie are friends, played a joke on Jodi, surfed across a swimming pool, played some hopscotch at an elementary school, got a parking ticket and made Cooper pay half of it, went to Paper Heart with Annie, saw Taking Back Sunday in concert, Norma cut my hair a couple of times, ate too many quesadillas, met Tony Potato, thought I met my soul mate, watched a kid poop his pants and laugh at himself, received a gift card for $40, wasted hrs at a time on video ichat, sat in sky chairs with Kelli, purchased some new Sperry sailor shoes, bought a new fedora, went to Idaho a couple of times, started some propaganda against Obamas Youth, spent $10 in late fees for a RedBox movie I got for free with a code, wore the same pair of jeans almost every day, witnessed a homeless guy get escorted out of a hotel pool, went and got free fries at Tonyburgers, convinced people that Ben was stuck in Mexico, drank a lot of blackberry lemonade, sat in my car for over 2 hours in a rain storm with Aliska, Joe invited us over to swim and have a BBQ at the lodge, had the best churros I've ever had, had Chili's for every meal for about a week, started mixing RedBull with Margarita mix for my new favorite drink, broke Annies blender, read Heath Ledgers boring bio, saw 500 Days of Summer with Kelli, walked around downtown Salt Lake with Hema + Stu one afternoon, rode public transportation for fun, went to one of the lamest dance parties ever, attended the SLCC Murder Mystery dinner, almost witnessed a break up of a solid relationship/couple, had a photo shoot with Annie for fun.... and I'm sure this list could go on, but summer is now over and alls I have to show for it is my fading tan and the memories.
Now, with the memories of summer out of the way, bring on whats next. Fall, you are my favorite time of year. FAVORITE. I don't quite understand why you are my favorite, but you are. I mean, I hate the responsibility that comes along with the Fall, like school and such. What a serious drag school is. Then you have Christmas, the happiest time of the year, minus the crappy weather. But you get to watch HOME ALONE for hours. I'm getting too far ahead of myself. First things first, lets do this, Fall, you have your work cut out for you, don't screw up under all the pressure from what summer has provided.
That is all I got for now, LUBS + a kick in the face.
R.I.P.
How am I late on this? Why didn't anyone tell me about THIS? I feel as if I've been lied to for the past couple of years. Well i guess its better I find out now rather than later. Mark my words, I'll bring it back from the dead in the next 10-40 years. You just wait.
Super Girlfriend Assistants
Hokay, I'm back. Lets start out with what I've been doing. One word, and a half, video-iChat. With Annie. That thing is my new fav. Now lets talk about something more serious thats been going on in my head over the past week. While I was going thru my old wallet I found something that I thought I needed to carry with me, but in reality I don't. So I came up with the conclusion, I need a super-girlfriend type assistant that carries EVERYTHING I could want at any given point and time. Like all those gift cards I don't have room for in my pockets, those special/lame ID cards that are only good at those places you got them at. Your punch reward cards for your 10th one free, that keep adding up in your wallet cause you always take them out because they only have a couple of punches, but as soon as they're out of your wallet, you go there. I KNOW, right? Those type things. Or another thing I hate carrying in my pocket, any kind of chapstick or pens. I hate having these in my pockets because sometime down the line you always forget to take them out. Forgetting to take them out, you lose them and buy new ones, they as soon as you buy that new one, you put on that same pair of jeans and find your old one. Then you have too many chapsticks laying around. Or you have the one time you decide to do you laundry, and you happen to forget to keep track of all your millions of chapsticks you have purchased cause of the chain reaction, and they ruin all your clothes. Or heres another thing, my iPod with its headphones. Sure, if I'm with a quote-unquote 'girlfriend' it would be rude to listen to my iPod around her and not give her attention, but this is the part of the solution where she's my assistant. No obligations to relationship stuff what so ever. But the fact that she's my super attractive girlfriend on the side is an awesome bonus. Next, and this one might be pushing it, but I really wish I could carry my MacBook. How am I supposed to do all the things the world demands of me without my computer? Right, you all wish you could have your laptop with you. What it comes down to is, can someone please find me someone who does all this. Acquire within. I'll tell you if you/the person you found qualifies. There is a catch, I don't think I could pay. In this 'economy' who can really get paid? We are all working for free these days.
Sarah Morrison + School Cool
Whether you are heading back to middle school, high school, college, grad school, or med school; you need to do it right. If you follow these easy tips, the first week of school should be a breeze. You will have a bunch of cool new friends, a hot edgy boyfriend, and the popular girls' undying jealously for the rest of the year. Good luck girls. And stay in school!
-Back to school shopping is fun. Especially if your mom or student loans are paying. But be careful at the mall. There is a right way to do THIS. Don't buy anything in the window ANYWHERE. Everyone at school will have that stuff. And you want to be the coolest girl at school. Cool girls wear stuff that no one else is wearing. Buy your fashion staples; basic tops, leggings, hoodies, cardigans, and such (at those stores everyone shops at). Buy dresses and other flashy numbers at lesser known stores. And always think while shopping, "Would the popular girls wear this?" If the answer is YES, don't buy it. You want to be cool. And being cool means being cooler than "them."
-Never wear anything brand new the first day of school. I would actually go as far as to say the first week of school. Don't wear entire new outfits. You want to be cool. And cool girls don't try hard. They don't "notice" when it's the first day of ANYTHING. Wear a power outfit. Something you know you look good in. Accessorize it with a new pair of shoes or bag or something from that back to school shopping expedition, we discussed above. Mix in some of your new pieces with old ones. After the first week, start to throw in a new outfit or two, a week. But no more than 2 a week! You are trying to be cool.
-Don't do anything weird. Don't try to cut your bangs the night before school starts. Don't get those rainbow-dollar bill-unicorn acrylics you've always wanted, the weekend before the special day. Don't get a chemical peel or try extracting blackheads from your skin with a pair of tweezers hours before your first class. Don't chop your hair off. Don't wear right-outta-the-package weave hair. Cool girls don't try. You want to look effortless. Save the drastic changes for boredom come October.
-Don't purchase notebooks for every class you are taking. And don't show up to class with all these blank notebooks, with the title of each class written on them in pink Sharpie. One: You MAY change classes. Two: You MAY look retarded. Bring one notebook the first day of school and a pen. Nothing is going to happen the first week anyway. So it's a good time to look extra cool.
-Write stuff you need to know down. Don't be that girl writing down everything the teacher says. Teachers don't teach until at least the second week of school. All the cool kids know that.
-Sit near other cool looking kids in class. Don't talk to them. Just locate yourself in their proximity to them, in case the teacher asks you to pair up or you need to borrow a pen because yours is effortlessly holding your cool casual hair in a bun or something. You are really cool. They will notice this.
-If lockers are applicable to your back to school experience, use them wisely. Sometimes you will be able to pick your locker. Sometimes some adult will assign you one. Eh. No problem. Lockers can easily be switched and moved after the first week. Do not fear if yours has an exceptionally lame location. Use this time to scope out your locker move. Your locker should be somewhere with lots of traffic. Where all the other cool kids walk and will see you. Your locker's location is far more important than whose locker is near yours. Your locker isn't trying to be cool either. It just "is."
-You are too cool to care about lunchroom politics. You and your cool self can totally sit alone. You are THAT cool. Let them come to you. Let them ask if they can sit with you. And if there are no tables open, and you are looking around at that sea of faces panicing; do NOT fear. Pretend you are just walking through. Seem busy. Go eat outside or somewhere else. People will think you were doing something cooler than eating. Pretend you are doing something cooler than eating. PRETEND you are doing something cooler than "them."
New Delta Spirit Pictures
In an interview with National Public Radio’s Scott Simon, [Brandon] Young and [Matt] Vasquez recount how things came together for Delta Spirit. Young happened to hear Vasquez singing near the trolly tracks in downtown San Diego.They exchanged phone numbers and kept in touch.
Four years went by and Young’s band broke up. He called Vasquez and asked him if he was interested in putting something together. Vasquez told him that he would call back in 30 minutes. True to his word, Vasquez called saying he just fired his whole band and was ready to try something new.
Legit.
This has been building up for a while now. I thought I could just calmly keep it to myself and things would work/die out for the better. But it hasn't. The topic here is the word LEGIT. It can be a good word, but in this day and age, I hate the word legit. I hate that everyone uses legit to describe anything. I hate that people made bracelets with the word legit on it. I hate that people who use legit think they're cool and have a huge vocabulary. I hate that legit is so common to use that its lost all of its originality to speak of. So please for the sake of me, please don't use legit like you own it, because if you do, I will think less of you. Thats a promise. PLEASE don't use the word legit. I beg you.
Along with legit, I have a list of other things I can't stand in today's society.
This list includes:
-the word 'chillax'
-the term 'Cali' when referring to the state of California
-when cause is spelled 'cuz'
-when people use emoticons in every message I get from them, when in reality they would never make that face toward me when saying said message in person.
(In my opinion, the people who do these things, are the same people who are texting with emoticons and every other word is legit, oh and they probably spell cause 'cuz' and they talk so much about how they had the best time in 'Cali' while they 'chillaxed' at the beach the whole time....)
-I hate corn. I hate corn-on-the-cob, I hate popcorn, I hate anything with corn in it.
-I hate cotton candy.
-I hate pajama pants, I hate when people wear them in public or to bed.
-I strongly dislike the mid-life crisis, muscle bulging dude (or female) who wears Ed Hardy and Affliction clothing.
-I hate when people throw up peace signs in EVERY picture they take of themselves, or that their friends take of them.
-I don't like how the radio is powered by ads and not music, but when the music does come on, I get mad and wish it didn't suck the originality out of people listening to it. I always feel like an old grandpa when I listen to the radio, I'll hear a song and think to myself, 'Oh, so this is the song everyone has been singing lately.'
And you get my point, just about everything can bug me in one way or another... The list could go on. But, FOR THE LOVE, please stop doing these things.
Thank you.
Peace + Love Is All I Need
Check this out, an original song written by Kelli Jean Russell, or known in the blogging world as Kelzone. I feel honored to have a song dedicated to me, or at least with my name in the lyrics. Good gosh, this is so AWESOME. Bahhhhh!!!! LUB YOU.
One + Only's
This is 'bout our one and only's
memories that comfort when we're lonely;
I'll never forget the day we met
that lame dance party but I'll never regret;
I liked the way you moved 'cross the floor,
your smiles, styles; I wanted to know more.
I never imagined that in the end
we'd become the best of friends.
o-o But we've become the best of friends
o-o I'm here for you till the bitter end.
Jordan wears his too tight jeans,
rock and roll is what he sings,
Sarah Morrison's who he reads,
but peace and love is all he needs.
o-o peace and love is what he needs,
o-o he finds it in the songs he sings.
This is 'bout our one and only's,
memories that comfort when we're lonely.
Hangin' at the swimming pool
by Hema's house to keep us cool;
he launched a surfboard at my head,
his face I neatly ripped to shreds,
but he so gently reminded me
of the principle to act forgivingly.
o-o he taught me to have charity,
o-o reminded me to act forgivingly.
Jordan wears his rosary,
has faith in God and does good deeds;
the Holy Bible's what he reads,
but peace and love is all he needs.
o-o Holy Bible and a rosary,
o-o finds peace and love in his good deeds.
This is 'bout our one and only's,
memories that comfort when we're lonely.
For the salvation of his soul
and the sake of our friendship I wrote this whole
song then found in reality
when it comes down to the nitty-gritty,
souls and friends aren't saved through songs,
but in our hearts is where they belong.
o-o For our friendship and his soul,
o-o in our hearts we'll keep it whole.
Jordan wears a smile on his face,
claims I am his saving grace;
Together I know we can succeed - in spreading
peace and love a all we need.
o-o we'll diminish animosity,
o-o cause peace and love is all we really need.
---
Friend of the Summer
Yes, you've seen her before and you prolly know her. Her name is Annie Salmon and she gets the Friend of the Summer award, presented by yours truly. Alls I know is that the more this summer comes to an end, the more I come to realize that Annie and I have become better friends than we ever have. Whatever happened this summer, I swear that Annie and I were doing something together. But, I really didn't care what it was, because more times than not, we did nothing, but TOGETHER. Thats friendship at its finest. To all my amigos and amigas reading this who are not Annie, then please understand that maybe you didn't text/call me enough of hang out with me more than Annie did. So you can consider your self a close second. An honor none the less. So please, if you see Annie, make sure you tell her congrats on her Friend of the Summer award. She worked hard for it, and deserves all of what it entitles... For what its worth.
Mandrate
Mandrate Dictionary
Mandrate: / man-dr8 / 1 a: To drink a man drink; ex: mood altering drinks (beer, energy drinks, muscle enhancing) 2 b: To drink an old school soda; ex: soft drinks
Mandration: / man-dr8-shun / 1 a: The process of Mandrate;
ED: / e-d / 1 a: Energy Drink; Nuff said
STD: / s-t-d / 1 a: Sleepy Truck Driver; ex. sentence: " Would you like to mandrate with an ED so we don't become STD's? "
Hydrate: / hi-dr8 / 1 a: What losers do with water; 2 b: What jocks do with sports drinks
BFC: / b-f-c / 1 a: Big Freakin Can; 2 b: Single container of 24oz or more of Mandrate; ex sentence: " Man! That was a huge BFC. "
Overdrate: / over-dr8 / 1 a: The act of drinking too many ED's in a short period of time; This usually leads to comments; ex comments: " Dude! Can you hear my heartbeat?" or " My voice is so loud in my brain."
Check this out. My buddy, my homeboy, my long lost amigo that was never lost, has put his love for hydration online. MANDRATE.com Show some lub and lets us all MANDRATE! (except for the female gender, I mean who are we kidding, look at the name, it doesn't say 'everybodydrate' so please no complaints and sorry if it seems a little harsh.)
Childhood
Do you remember your childhood? As I sit her with the one and only KELZONE watching Saved By The Bell, one of the best shows every child can relate to, I came to realize, I WANT MY CHILDHOOD BACK! I mean, times were simple right? You got to wake up in the summer, watch TV, (my personal faves were Ghost-Writer and of coarse, Saved By The Bell), then you eat your favorite cereal and go back to sleep or bum around some more. You might of had some chores to do, but seriously? Who honestly couldn't say they wanted their childhood back? I wish I could go ride my bike around the neighborhood a million times after watching the movie RAD a million times more. Or when I had all the time in the world, well actually just about 3 months of summer vacation, to do whatever it is that you REALLY wanted to do. Summer and childhood go hand in hand. Agreed?
What do YOU want back from your childhood? Whatever it is, make it happen. You owe it to your self to have what makes you happy. So if you haven't done something you WANT to do, then stop reading this and bring back your childhood and have some good times.
Time For Change
Isn't always time for change. I mean, think about how much has changed in the past month for you. You prolly made some new homies, some people that changed your life that you never thought you would have ever met. The past month has been straight cray cray. Well, maybe month in a half. But still. I mean, my road trip out of the blue for starters with Mason + Ben, then being on 'summer vacation' for the rest of the time after that. I mean I wake up and go to the pool EVERY DAY it seems. But now that its August and the heat is winding down, its time for another change. School starts in 2 weeks for most of us, and we will all part ways and meet up again at Christmas break, or if we were never that good of friends until next summer.
As for this picture dealing with change, how do you feel about Kat Von D's new hair? She is beautiful no matter what she does. But it took me a solid second to register who it was, but its still amazing.
I guess what we all now need to do is embrace the change we are all facing and run with it.
Ode To My Jeans
[Look at those jeans, you know they've been thru lots. ]
This is a serious issue. You know that one pair of jeans that will never let you down no matter what? That one pair of jeans that you wear day in day out just because you have never found a pair that even comes close to comparing. No matter how many times you try and wear a 'replacement' pair for a day or two, but when you put back on your favorite pair, how everything just seems to be better? Or when do your laundry and your favorite pair is never in their because your always wearing them so they cant be washed. However, when you do finally wash them, they always feel like a NEW pair of your favorite jeans because they kind of fit a little different due to washing/drying and the whole actually being clean and not dirty thing. None the less, your favorite pair of jeans tells a lot about a person. It says what your style is. How you treat your clothes and more importantly how loyal you are to your jeans. I RARELY change my jeans line up. My favorite skinny/black jeans always get first priority over most clothes I own. Its just the way it is. I mean I've had other pairs of favorite jeans that have now been pushed to my second or third favorite pair, and don't get me wrong, those have had their days of wear + tear, and now their on their retirement 'leg' (pun) of their life of being my favorite pair of jeans. Those second and third place jeans will always have a place in my heart forever for always being there. Your favorite pair of jeans is always your consistency of what to base your life off of at the time. If your jeans don't fit you right/make you happy, your days will suck. You wont be happy. So the question is, why try to change what is going good? If you get one thing out of this post, its just to appreciate your favorite pair of jeans to the fullest. I mean, who cares if you wear the same pair for DAYS in a row. The way I see it, if you don't care, people shouldn't either. Or if they don't smell bad then you're good to go. So wear your favorite pair of jeans. LOVE your favorite pair of jeans.
Noodles
There's always more than meets the eyes with Nathan - he's pretty crafty and you need to watch him. A lot of people think he's brash but he just responds by saying " I don’t give a ****" - It's all part of his style.
He's traveled the world on the WCT circuit, come close to winning gold, spent time building his own mini empire and recently launched RVCA Australia, not a small feat by any means.
Destroy Old, Create New
What am I supposed to say? If you want to be 'different', you are going to have to be 'different' along with everyone else who thinks they are 'different'.
But, I do however think that people have a right to be whoever they are, not whoever social protocol tells them to be. When you do the things you want to do, you do them well, and awesome. When you do the things you hate, you'll be unhappy. If you try and fake your way thru it, people can tell. All I'm saying in this cluster of words is the fact that people need to be what they are comfortable with. Not what they THINK they want to be. But, hey, don't you have to want to be, before you can be?
If you get anything out of this, I commend you, because I wrote it and I don't really know what I'm trying to get across. Bah.
Everybody Else
This is probably going to be another post about something you've read about on here. Everybody Else. My main goal is to get these guys to come play a show at SLCC. I know you would come, just for the fact that if I like them, then by default they are awesome. It almost seems kind of weird I'm giving so much praise to 3 dudes in a band who kind of sing love songs, but, thats what all songs are about when it comes down to it. Right? Well, read this review and be amazed. Or check out their space on the internet. http://www.myspace.com/everybodyelse
An L.A.-based trio named for a Kinks B-side, Everybody Else, owe much to the harmonies and economical songwriting of the sixties, but they draw just as much on more modern music. Meat Market grooves like Outkast but has the screaming, bluesy vocals of Little Richard or the Animals. Say Goodbye combines an electroclash beat and new wave guitars with Elvis Costello-style lead vocals and a three part harmony reminiscent of the Beach Boys. The common thread is infuriatingly catchy songs and minimalist, Dancey arrangements that sound both retro and modern at the same time. The lyrics are full of concrete images, and are often more melancholy than the music they accompany. Over the fuzzed-out disco of In Memoriam are words about mourning the memories of lost love: I still see the blue, sunken barge/ down by the shore and I/ can taste the blackberry juice on our fingers/ But theres an echo of careless, callow footsteps/ that run by so quickly. Listeners are left in that magical place where we dont really know what we are feeling, but its giving us chills.
Their debut album, "Everybody Else," was produced Rick Parker (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Howl) and captures the spirit of their electrifying live show, marked by an energy that always seems to teeter on the edge of chaos without ever falling apart. The album is out everywhere in the United States, and has just been released in Japan and Korea. An all-acoustic version of the record, entitled "1 1/2," was released in April 2008, and an outtake EP, "Gold Noise," was released in October, 2008. The band are currently in the studio, working on a new album.
Playlists
Some great songs I recommend for anyones playlist this summer.
Chester French - C'mon
Chester French - Jimmy Choos
Discovery - So Insane
Discovery - Orange Shirt
Phoenix - 1901
Phoenix - Lasso
Phoenix - Liztomania
The Sounds - Underground
The Sounds - Dorchester Hotel
The Virgins - One Week of Danger
The Virgins - Teen Lovers
Manchester Orchestra - I've Got Friends
Cage The Elephant - In One Ear
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Dull Life
Silversun Pickups - There's No Secrets This Year
Cobra Starship - Good Girls Go Bad
Cobra Starship - Hot Mess
Taking Back Sunday - Summer, Man
Taking Back Sunday - Swing
Taking Back Sunday - Cut Me Up Jenny
Shwayze - Get U Home
Beardo - I Love Beardo
Booted
Its summer time,
I'm not burned,
I'm just burned out.
I'm not ready for what's next,
but what's next is what's for for the best.
Did you read that poem I just wrote off the top of my head? It makes no sense other than its the middle of summer and I don't want this season to end. It finally stopped raining and I'm sitting here in my cut-offs ready for the heat, not the cold.
Miken
Because I'm in high school again, I'm putting up a picture of Miken. In my mind she invented MySpace. She claims herself that she will probably die with her MySpace account. And I don't doubt that. Although she didn't invent facebook or twitter, she is also on there too. Show her some love and follow her on twitter @miken1818.
A Gallon of Salt Water
As me and Mason arrive after our long, long drive from lovely Bountiful to our first stop at being Wendy’s in St. George, its beyond death with how hot it actually is outside. It was so hot I think I spent over 10 dollars for a Frosty. So worth it. Back on the road for the city of free love, or, sin. We have no idea of where we are going, or what to even expect of our hotel that was so easily found on PriceLine. But it gets worse, the heat is even hotter than St. George and we’re lost, and there’s construction everywhere. Luckily I learned how to use my BlackBerry and navigated our way there. This is something that came in handy so many times that I’m thinking I’m next to awesome using a GPS on my phone.
We decide to hit the strip and see what actually goes down in this city. We walk, walk some more, then we finally decide that its time for Mason to spend some money. So he decides to gamble. Long story short, He won nothing, and lost everything.
The next day we set out to do something that Las Vegas had to offer, but something that we didn’t know they had to offer. Waking up late leaves room for only one meal a day, so we decide that meal should be Café Rio. The one we decide to go ends up being more than a half hour away which only leads to more bonding time while driving. On our way back, we decide to hit every discount clothing store we see. Yes, we went shopping. And we did it a lot that day. We went into the same store at so many different locations that I swore to myself we wouldn’t go to that store while on this trip, but somehow we still ended up shopping there.
Now that the week is just about half over, what better way to spend the day then to drive all day? So we did just that, drove all day to our promised land, Los Angeles. I don’t really know what made that last hour so long, its either I had to go pee so bad and refused Masons offer to go into an old Dairy Queen cup, Or getting lost on all the freeways and getting on every one, except for the right one. None the less, we reached our goal and found our way.
Fast forward to some traveling time and now to our hotel in Redondo Beach. To just park at our hotel was 18 dollars a day, and wifi cost 10 dollars for every 24 hours. This leads to parking a mile away and trying to find a spot that isn’t scheduled for street cleaning for the next morning and going to starbucks and paying only 5 dollars for a starbucks card for their wifi and another 5 for a frapacino and a muffin for 2 hours to update our lives on the internet.
Wednesday night we end up driving to Hollywood and went to the ROXY on Sunset to see Beardo perform. Met Beardo, Tony Potato, the sexy dancer from Whitestarr, shook Mickey Avalons hand during the Beardo show. Got weird glares from all the Asain fans from Far East Movement, and couldn’t believe someone actually knew who this crazy guy was on stage, let alone I knew all his songs. Mason can testify to our unfortunate luck with the crowd.
For our next day to ourselves after a surreal night from before, we decide to head to Venice beach. A place that dreams come true, or at least a place where you can dream. Upon arriving, Mason gets handed a pair of headphones by a homie and ends up paying him for his crappy rap demo from Atlanta Georgia. I guess its karma put out there, for every horrible crap CD bought some one buys a solid album and the right person gets their lucky break (insert your love for HEMA here).
Driving to LAX we see a fire hydrant break and shoot into the sky and into the power lines. While we were outside in the city you can hear the power lines buzzing from all the water and electricity. We get back on to one of the many free ways and head to pick up Ben from the LAX and got lost walking all the terminals, so we just ended up telling him to meet us. To our defense of how stupid we are and how we did everything the hard way, look who your reading about. Mason, Me and Ben.
Drove from LAX to Redondo Beach using all back roads and tried to find somewhere to eat, so we ate at Fatburger where Mason got the XL and it was gnarly gross and heavy. To burn all this off we decided to walk to all the bars/clubs at the beach. Walked the boardwalk and found a bar to go inside. Im not joking when I say we walked 2 miles both ways in the middle of the night.
We woke up so early the next morning to move our car from our parking spot for the street sweepers, its beyond mentioning what we are actually wanting to do. We end up driving 2 and a half hours down the coast to San Diego and walked into MEXICO. Mason, the only on with the passport is set on supporting every family with his donations to their pancho and blanket products.
In Mexico Mason and I being white, have tourist written all over us. We never knew we had so many friends, “eh, amigos! I’ve been waiting for you all day, come in, come in” We ended up buying 2 for 1 drinks with each drink costing an arm and a leg. First rip off of the day. In this club we are having drinks at, the host keeps trying to tell us we gets free complementary shots. We keep telling him no. No. No. Then he tries to sell his prescription drugs that he can get us a great deal on, and to the best strip clubs in the city, or whatever we want, he has it for us. The music is so loud in this club and this guy is getting so annoying that I am a jerk to him the whole time and he still bugs Mason and doesn’t leave us alone.
We finally leave the club and go eat some real tacos, finally my favorite thing that Mexico has brought into this country, TACOS. Awesome tacos, and great host at this outdoor restaurant in the center of Tijuana makes these tacos taste amazing.
After spending our money on worthless items in every store with the same product, we go into American Apparel. That’s right, a real American Apparel in Mexico. Kind of weird to be honest. No great deals. Exact same prices as the US, but in the middle of the Tijuana you would think you would get some kind of deal.
On our way out, we got some of the best churos I’ve had to date. 1 dollar for a whole bag of them. Awesomenessss. Walking back over to America, I was stupid enough to take a picture in the customs building which lead to having me grab the attention of border patrol right from the start. After they search my camera for my deleted pictures, they ask for what I don’t have, a passport. Awesome, First I’m in trouble for taking pictures, now I don’t have a passport to get out of Mexico. But it gets better, on my way out, since I don’t have any bags, I get patted down and searched because of suspicious behavior. Oh gosh, but fun none the less.
Our homeboy Ben, a brown skinned Spanish speaking Guatemalan native, didn’t have his passport either. So our friend that gets mistaken for a Mexican while in Mexico doesn’t even have a passport to get across. But, somehow he made it out the door before it did. Do I really look that suspicious? Honestly?
Waking up the next day in our hotel, Ben reminds us that he forgot it was the 4th of July. As we head straight to Beverly Hills to pick up Bens cousin, we notice everyone is outside our hotel. Must be the 4th. No parking anywhere and people everywhere. We find Ms. Megan Mark. She leads us our way around and we drive downtown Hollywood. For the rest of the day we just end up going to the Hollywood sign on the hill and going to check out the view of downtown LA. We saw Michael Jackson’s star and that was a feeling all of its own.
After a long holiday we start driving back to our hotel and we see a few fireworks here and there. We hear most of them while trying to find parking a 100 miles away from our hotel and right as we get to the front of our hotel where everyone is, we see the last 5 seconds of the finale. Awesome. As we’re going up the elevator in the hotel, we were accompanied by 2 ladies who are speaking another language. Ben asks if the language they’re speaking is something that he thought he knew, no answer, awkward, then it gets worse, our room was next to theirs, all the way on the other side of the hotel, so we followed them the whole way there and I am pretty sure they thought we were following them. That night we decide to let traffic die down before we head back home. It was midnight when I looked at the time, and we were in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway. OMG. Traffic owned our life for the first time.
Driving thru the night was ok until Las Vegas where I think the water from the Lemon-Aid Mason drank in Mexico or all the gallons of salt water finally got to him. Every rest stop he had to go. And he had to go so bad, that he wouldn’t go in the same old Dairy Queen cup he tried to make me pee in earlier. Made that last couple of hours longer than I even thought possible. And we were so close, yet so far and home all at the same time.
The End.
Get Ben Out Of Mexico
Last week Mason, Ben and I went down to Tijuana. Unfortunately mi amigo Ben Lopez forgot his passport back into the USA and is now being held there until we can get him his passport. Please pray for him, as he is stuck in Mexico for who knows how long. Thank you.
Spread Love Like Violence
SPREAD LOVE LIKE VIOLENCE
SPREAD HOPE LIKE FIRE
SPREAD TRUTH LIKE CANCER
SPREAD PEACE LIKE WAR
SPREAD FAITH LIKE CORRUPTION
x x x xx X x
Education Time // Matt Costa
Matt Costa, who is of Portuguese ancestry, states his father "worked in airlines" and his mother "was around the house a lot". While young, his family moved to Florida where he "pursued skateboarding and high school on the side". Later the family moved back to Huntington Beach and at age 12, Costa received his first guitar but it was quickly shelved and replaced with a more "thrilling" gift: a skateboard. Costa compensated for his late start skateboarding with intense dedication to the sport and in a matter of years nearly turned pro. In 2003, that path shifted drastically when Matt shattered his leg in a skateboarding accident. The injury required eighteen months of recovery and rehabilitation. During that downtime, Matt directed his energy, passion and talent toward the guitar, writing and recording simple tunes. Initially, a mini tape recorder served as his crude studio. Matt's songwriting later flourished when he invested in a 4-track recorder.
In early 2003, Matt's homemade demo began circulating amongst friends and acquaintances in and around his hometown of Huntington Beach, California. One copy found its way into the hands of No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont. Costa made such an impression that Dumont offered to record more demos for him in his home studio. Those first recordings led to a self-titled 5 song EP that Costa and Dumont distributed themselves. As interest in the EP grew, the two were already deep into the sessions that led to Songs We Sing. Considering Dumont's experience as a songwriter, one might expect him to have taken a more active role in the songwriting process. This however, was no usual mentorship, as Dumont remained behind the control board, offering encouragement, more interested in capturing Matt's talent than in shaping the songs himself. Phil Ek (Modest Mouse, The Shins) applied the finishing touches, mixing the twelve tracks that have become Songs We Sing.
Matt Costa spent the summer of 2005 opening on Jack Johnson's summer tour, playing in amphitheaters and baseball stadiums across North America. He has also supported diverse artists such as Modest Mouse, Pinback, Built to Spill, Gomez, The Vandals, My Morning Jacket, and Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard. Matt joined Jack Johnson for his 2006 European tour. He has also contributed to the Jack Johnson and Friends Curious George soundtrack; The track is entitled "Lullaby" and it features Matt Costa with Jack Johnson. This song was taken from his The Elasmosaurus EP. The soundtrack was released Tuesday, February 7, 2006. Matt toured in South America in November 2007 along with G. Love, Donavon Frankenreiter, Animal Liberation Orchestra, and artist/photographer Jay Alders. Cities they visited and performed include São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Florianópolis.
The video for Matt's first single, "Cold December" can be viewed at his website. It was directed by the Malloys and shot in Ely, Nevada. It was released February 2, 2006. On the 31st of July 2007 Matt released an exclusive new song entitled "If You Took To Me" as part of the environmentally minded polar bear documentary Arctic Tale and its soundtrack. On the 7th of October, Matt released the first single, "Mr. Pitiful", from his new record Unfamiliar Faces. was released January 22, 2008. Originally it was to be released for October 2, 2007, but was postponed. Costa played as a supporting act for the English band Oasis' Canadian tour in August 2008, and again on their Winter 2008 U.S. tour, along with Ryan Adams and The Cardinals.
Things I've Heard.
Jodi told me she had a dream about me. And we were eating quesadillas together. Funny thing is I had one for dinner the night before. Oh how this world works.
Michael Jackson
I know I'm a few hours late on this post, but I seriously need to pay my respect to say the least. Think about it, we all need to do this. I remember everyday in 8th grade listening to the 'Bad" album every morning, then listening to the 'History' album to finish the day. From his dance moves that tried and tried to be emulated, to the music that everyone loved, no matter what it was, Michael Jackson started a lot of trends that changed just about everything.
How about we now talk about something a little bit more serious... Is this the time frame where its possible to see the Beatles songs to be bought back from the name of Michael Jackson, or does the legacy of all the songs die with the man who owned them? It will be interesting to see how much they all sell for, and what actually happens.
All in all, you know you'll miss him, and if you say you don't, then you're the problem in this world.
Dedication
This is dedication to amazing people in my life that come from the east side of town called Holladay. First off, Stu, Stu Heart. A man who is known for his mad skill. When he isn't performing music awesomely in his band The Mange or with our homegirl Marci Thorne, or our main man HEMA, we make forts. We party just about 100 percent of the time and then we listen to music to kill the rest of the time we're together. But if we're not doing any of that we are promoting Viva la Resistance. He's like a blood brother to me, well not really, but I can see us eventually making the commitment to becoming a part of the same pack of wolves we call life. Oh yeah, he plays baseball, Thats something I don't know anything about. But what I do know is he is an uber friend. I would give this man 7 pounds.
Next, the lady in my life I have the pleasure to call Snacks. For about the first million times I would see her around she was eating cheddar Cup-o-Noodles. Did I mention how she has serious street cred and is just about down for anything that isn't lame? However, I have never made a fort with Snacks, I'm sure our time will come. Oh and her style, as you can tell, its next level. Just look at that dress she is rocking, not to mention her affinity for sailor attire we both share with one another.
In conclusion and to tie this whole dedication together, these people know how to get down on the dance floor. The Kool-Aid Social was a memory we will all share together. Awesomeness shared all around.
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