Saturday, January 30, 2010

Fire Dog


for some reason my dog is obsessed by the fire. if the screen weren't in place he might jump right in.

Saturday Night


Clean Living...

Monday, January 25, 2010

FREE-ish SPOON!


Spoon played a FREE show today in the parking lot of Waterloo Records at 6th and Lamar. Probably the best (may be the only) major record store in town. Perfect day with sunshine, 65F, cold beers, and rocking tunes. They played some of the new stuff as well as some old hits. Good times. And i say FREE as the concert was FREE. However, I spent $22 in cab rides and $15 on 7"s.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Black Veil Choir


Is the name of a music project that I am involved with these days. Justin Marler is a friend and co-Home Inspector and has been in a few bands over the years. He had written a bunch of songs that he wanted to record and asked if I'd be interested in taking part. Hell yes! I answered and went out and bought a bass guitar. I've been playing guitar almost everyday for 22 years, so the bass wasn't that much of a stretch. "I'm more Adam Clayton, than Les Claypool" I told everyone as not to get their hopes up too high about a bunch of notes or bass slaps. We got together a couple of times to go over the songs, Justin found a drummer, we had three practice sessions and hit the studio. Last Thursday and Friday we recorded at Jim Eno's studio, Public Hi-Fi, here in Austin. Such greats as Spoon, Black Joe Lewis, Okkervil River, Ben Kweller and yes- Justin Timberlake have recorded there. It is a top notch, "top notch!" studio. It was a hella good time.

A friend of Justin's is coming to town to play some guitar parts and then the whole thing will get mixed down. But just from the rough mixes it sounds really good. A super well-done job to Brad Bell who did the engineering and humored my jokes for two days. Not sure what Justin has planned for the songs once they are finished, but there's talk of shows, more practicing (practice? are we talking about practice? practice? not the shows.. but practice?) and hopefully more recording. It was great to get back to doing what had occupied almost every Friday night back in Denver at the Reardon basement. More to come soon...

Sunday, January 17, 2010

OUCH!

so we went roller skating today for a friend's kid's birfday.

i may not be able to walk tomorrow.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Everyone is a Winner

it's that magical time of year again
when the Darwin Awards are bestowed, honoring the least evolved among us.

Here is the glorious winner:

1. When his 38 caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder.
He peered down the barrel
and tried the trigger again.
This time it worked.

And now, the honorable mentions:

2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland
lost a finger in a meat cutting machine and
after a little shopping around, submitted
a claim to his insurance company.
The company expecting negligence sent out
one of its men to have a look for himself.
He tried the machine and he also lost a finger.
The chef's claim was approved.

3. A man who shoveled snow for an hour
to clear a space for his car during a
blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle
to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that
the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then
delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies.. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.

5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds
received from an oncoming train.
When asked how he received the injuries,
the lad told police that he was simply trying
to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer... $15. [If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?]

7. Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly.. He decided that he'd
just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape.

8. As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."

9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan at 5 A.M., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away.
[*A 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER]

10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline, but he plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.

In the interest of bettering mankind, please share these with friends and family.... unless of course one of these individuals by chance is a distant relative or long lost friend..
In that case, be glad they are
and hope they remain lost.

Remember..... They walk among us!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

ATTACK!



thanks opel!

Friday, January 1, 2010

Off with a Bang!


Happy New Year!

We went to the range this morning to exercise our 2nd Amendment rights. I bought a Ruger .22 target pistol or actually Phillips Property Inspections gave it out to their employee as an end of year gift. I love being the boss and employee. Mindy agreed to go with me and appeared to actually enjoy herself. We did target shooting and then found some items in my truck- coke cans, ping pong ball, clay targets, and took turns "making it jump!" (when you shoot something and it jumps into the air). I have a .22 rifle with a scope which Mindy says, "is easy- all you do is line up the crosshairs and shoot". Damn right. She fired two rounds with my 9mm but it has a substantial kick v. the .22 and put it right down.

Mindy and I went to a friends yesterday evening for a party and we're at home by 9 pm. Watched a movie through our new bluray player that is a network device and streamed it instantly from Netflix. Awesome.... Struggled to stay up until midnight, which we only knew had come by the rush of fireworks we heard and then checked the Dick Clark to see we had actually missed the count down. Oh well, there's always next year.

Looking forward to a great 2010!