I'm trying to adopt a new format, in which my "Categories" (television, movies, etc etc) will collapse into text. This will make for simple blog updates, with all those categories as links. You just click on the Category you want to read, and the text drops-down so you can read it.
1. Politics (Bill Clinton, Benjamin Franklin, Richard Nixon, and Art Linkletter)
Okay I'm not actually talking about any of those four people (and Art Linkletter was a famous television host, not a politician).So the election is over. Barack Obama won, as many people, including myself, suspected.
But I wasn't sure. I was sure that George Bush would lose the election in 2004, and I was wrong, so this time, I wasn't sure.
But hey, we won. And by we, I mean the rational people in America, for the first time in three consecutive elections.
I am an Obama supporter. But I will say this: I'm not one of those people who got crazy over Barack Obama and thought he was the next coming of Christ. My personal opinion is that all of a sudden we had a presidential candidate who was saying "I care more about the regular person than the richest person, and I want to do things rationally. I want to do what is best for the majority of the country."
So in my head, I was sort of saying, "....isn't that supposed to be what happens?!?!?!"
If "garbageman" was something you voted for, and a potential garbagial (pronounced gar-bah-gee-al) candidate came up to you and was like "My name's Tim. I'm running for garbageman, and if I get elected garbageman, I promise that I will come to your house and collect your trash, week after week!", you'd say "Uh...yeah....that's what garbagemen do...."
I'm not trying to take anything away from Barack Obama and I do think we have a great new president. I guess I just wish that things hadn't gotten to the point where everyone is incredibly impressed that someone wants to handle things in the way they should have been handled in the first place.
I also wanted to say - I cannot jump on the "I hate Sarah Palin" bandwagon. Everyone says she's inexperienced and can't name the magazines she reads, but I'll be honest, I'm not exactly "up" on the history of vice presidential candidates. I don't know how inexperienced she is compared to former VPs and to be honest, I just don't know much about her policies (seeing as she wasn't running for president) to judge her.
Does she seem pretty dumb? Yeah, I guess, but I can't just get behind that.
Oh, and if any of this makes you wonder if I was really behind Obama, I think you should check out this graph - which I consider to be extremely tell-tale and not at all surprising.
And just for fun - check out this one too (it's the same thing, but of the Bush/Kerry election).
2. Television (Family Matters, Celebrity Rehab/Reality Television)
My friend Brian Lau and I have had possibly our largest disagreement lately. I told him that during the run of the popular television show Family Matters, there existed a character named the Urk-bot, which, of course, is a robot version of the beloved (and socially revered) Steve Urkel.Brian (affectionately known as B Lau) disputed the existance of said robot. I immediately searched for any trace of the Urk-bot online. Alas, there was nothing to be found.
Finally, in a last ditch effort, I typed "Urkel-bot" into the search menu, and voila, not only did the Urkel-bot rear his metallic head, but he was also referred to as the "Urk-bot" by others (my girlfriend called me an asshole at this point, because I remembered his name as Urk-bot instead of Urkel-bot at first - I found it a little harsh at the time, but now understand the need for such strong language when dealing with such an important discussion).
Brian Lau, defeated, asked me if I remembered how ridiculous the storylines on Family Matters got, as we were currently watching an episode where Steve Urkel and Carl Winslow were not only continually time-traveling, but popping in and out of time periods in front of other family members, who were seemingly un-fazed by the complete disregard for the space-time continuum.
I told young Brian that it got fairly ridiculous. Steve Urkel, the Urk-Bot and Stefan UrKel were three different versions of the original Steve Urkel, and I believe that Larry Johnson played a grandmother on the show (which did originally derive from other NBA merchandising). Additionally, not only did Urkel create a love potion, a robot, and continually travel through time, but I remember he showed up on the show Full House to convince Stephanie to wear glasses, and then at some point invented a jetpack and flew to the home of the characters on Step-By-Step, apparently to bring some "Urkel-ry" (B Lau invented this word) to Patrick Duffy.
Brian and I pondered and theorized until the morning light, at the exploits of Urkel. One of the more interesting moments was when we realized we only had passing memories of Urkel (who started his antics when Brian and I were only five) and if we remembered him doing all these things and it's been so long since we've really followed the Urkel story, he must have undoubtably created many more characters, inventions, and cross-overs.
And wouldn't you know it - as I write this blog now, I am watching another episode of Family Matters, where it seems that Urkel's cousin, Myrtle (who is also played by Jaleel White - a fourth Urkel!), is ruining some sort of fashion show - AND THEN at the end of the episode, Steve Urkel gets a chain letter and remarks, "I'm going to send this to my friend Cory Matthews in Philadelphia!" - of course, he is speaking of Cory Matthews of the popular ABC sitcom, Boy Meets World (which, yes, takes place in Philadelphia), and of course, as everyone knows, Cory's brother Eric Matthews grew up to cross-over into the SAW movie series, becoming the prominently tortured detective (no relation to detective Tom Wells, who is Nicolas Cage's character in 8 MM).
Someday I will sit down and watch the entire run of Family Matters, and create a an intricately-detailed fansite for the show, complete with a full character rundowns and cross-overs, plot timelines (including alternate timelines to accomodate the frivolous time-traveling), and an inventions list.
Family Matters (as well as most of the ABC sitcoms and T.G.I.F.) was one of my favorite shows growing up and I hope it continues to be so on DVD (I don't think it's been released yet).
For a great, well-written and hilarious take on Family Matters, click here.
In current television, Celebrity Rehab has started up again. I gotta say, I love VH1 reality shows. If you think differently, you're either a dick or you're Brian Lau. I never was really into reality TV when those type of things started out.
I never got into Real World or Road Rules. I got mono a few years back from a dubious sexual encounter and during the weeks where I was bed-ridden, I did get into one season of the Real World. The historic season featuring Trishelle and the weird first-episode-hot-tub threesome. Magical.
I never watched the Real World after that. I never watched shows like American Idol, or Dancing With The Idols, or Who Wants To Marry An Idol (God really wasn't happy about that third one). I did watch the Surreal Life for a while, which is like the Real World, but with minor celebrities - including the aforementioned Trishelle. There have been 6 seasons (different cast each year), of which I've only watched two (I know, I'm dissappointed in myself as well).
So eventually, for some unknown reason, Lou, Tom Wells, Alyssa, Sousa, and myself started watching Rock Of Love (Bret Michaels trying to find a woman), Celebrity Rehab (minor celebrities try to stop being addicted to things), and the Pick Up Artist (geeks/nerds who are devoid of female affection, get taught by women-bedding-experts how to pick them up).
Since then I also got into Hogan Knows Best (Hulk Hogan and his family..uh...live), My Fair Brady (Christopher Knight - Peter Brady - and Adrianne Curry - a model, fall in love and get married - this was a spin-off from Surreal Life), and I Love New York (the most dramatic and - hopefully - the most ignorant girl from Flavor Flav got her own show to find a man - brought to my attention thanks to my girlfriend).
Sousa and I also fell prey to the 16 week-long oddysey that was Paradise Hotel 2 (for those of you keeping score - that's FOUR months), which was simply about people being slutty. That was the guiltiest of the guilty pleasures.
So currently, I'm watching Rock Of Love Charm School (the bitchiest idiots from Rock Of Love are taught by Sharon Osbourne and Ricky Rattman - I do not care about spelling his name correctly - to stop being idiotic and bitchy). Celebrity Rehab 2 (more celebrity addicts) is at the very top of my reality list right now, alongside The Pick Up Artist 2 (more non-celebrity nerds). Believe it or not,
But the question to me, is why do I enjoy these shows? I really can't quite put my finger on it. When it comes to film and normal, scripted television, it's easy to talk about how well things were shot, how well dialogue was written, how well it was executed, interesting plot points...etc etc etc. When it comes to reality TV, it's not.
My friend B Lau is someone who doesn't like reality TV at all. I'm sure he doesn't have a passionate hatred for it, and he has select things he does like that are reality-based. He likes "Windy City Heat" (a movie that is just one big prank on a very stupid man by his very mean friends - I will have to write about it at some point soon - without a doubt one of the most unique and enjoyable comedies I've ever seen) which is definitely reality-based. I believe also he likes some Jackass stuff (he's not into anything graphic, bloody or excessively violent), MTV's True Life, My Sweet 16 (which blows my mind), and the movie "King Of Kong", which is my favorite documentary.
But I do wonder what draws people to these shows. I've always been a believer in the idea that true stories have a different type of beauty than fictional stories do. Fictional stories, no matter how interestingly written, how endearing or how well-executed, are still created by a person or people. The stories, while uplifting or inspiring, are tailored to be so.
You can't compare a pool to a lake, or a painting to the beauty of a night sky.
Yes, I just compared The Pick Up Artist to the beauty of a night sky.
I'm not neccessarily talking about reality TV when I say this, but I do find a certain allure in a story shaped by experience and the nature of a person. The journey that a specific person makes and how other people, places, ideas and events shape that journey. Everyone has that inside them, and of course you can find uninteresting journeys as often as interesting journeys. But I feel like you can shape and focus on different aspects of every person's journey and present a compelling or at least interesting story.
In the case of Ozzy Osbourne, a multi-platinum selling artist, one of the most popular things about him was a reality TV show starring his foul-mouthed family and his feeble self. Regardless of whether or not you liked it (I actually have not watched it, although I own all the seasons), you must admit that many people did. I'm not saying that popular opinion is a great judge of relevance or merit, but there's something to be said for anything that millions of people continually enjoy.
This argument has possibly been misleading. I don't think that most or even a quarter of reality television has the beauty I speak of when I talk about people's individual journeys. But to be fair, I don't think all film/television does either.
I do, however, say this: What makes Karen from "Will and Grace" a better bitch than Lacey, the awful asshole from Rock Of Love? My argument is that Lacey is a MORE interesting character! While Karen is well-acted and well-written as a character, she's also created exactly for that reason, and exists only on page and film. Lacey from Rock Of Love EXISTS! VH1 did a casting call and FOUND this person! She was walking the earth before the show existed, and will CONTINUE to do so well after it ends!
Isn't the real person infinitely more interesting? She was shaped by events, and her back story is 100% true! Imagine if you could talk to Kramer's mother, or have a conversation with Ross from Friends, about what was going through his head when he realized he slept with the hot copy girl and thus, ended his relationship with Rachel (for a good 6 years at least)!
And if you think that reality TV shows are also "tailored" to create characters and personas - I say that is slightly true, but not overtly so. I can't make a reality TV show about Tom Wells depicting him as a racist (no matter how much I'd like to). You can't present what isn't there, and although I feel that producers angle what they show to create storylines, those storylines do exist (albeit on a possibly smaller or larger level), and so do the people in them.
I suppose what I'm saying is that although reality TV is superficial, not well-written (or written at all), the people are usually fake and, most of the time, douchebags - isn't that closer to real life than the things you see on television? Maybe you'll never be in an "Elimination Ceremony" in real life (which exists in many competition-based reality shows), but you're a lot more likely to deal with a stupid, fake, hot, bitchy girl than you are to deal with anything from "Heroes", "24", "The Sopranos", or "The Wire" - and like I said, all the people you see on reality TV will continue as they are, long after you press the "Power" button.
Just to be clear, I'm not saying that a direct connection to the events in a work of film is the only measure of how enjoyable it is, but I am saying that it can easily influence interest. I'm also saying that when you're someone (like me) who appreciates many differents kinds of art/entertainment, and understands that they all have different purposes, you can find enjoyment in a lot of different types of presentations.
I truly believe that people like Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, as well as countless bands and artists, all create these films and songs that are without a doubt, fiction but are also loved in a different way than a lot of fiction, and for a very specific reason.
These works are close to people's hearts because they feel a connection not just to the song, but they get to feel the connection between the artist and the art when they know the real person behind it. When I see that Kevin Smith has been dealing with creating an early work that was overpraised (Clerks) and then a work that was overcritized (Mallrats), and he turns that into the background of Holden McNeil (the lead in Chasing Amy, who did essentially the same thing, but as a fictional comic book artist), it DOES make me like it more. When Mark Hoppus (blink 182 and +44 bassist) writes "No It Isn't" which on the page appears to be a break-up song, but is obviously (and he has stated that it is) about the break up of blink 182 at the hands of Tom Delonge, it's infinitely more captivating. It has more depth and more reality, in the same way I'm talking about here. It's the same, true-life strengthening bond.
Also, so that I don't look quite AS stupid, Celebrity Rehab specifically has been well-reviewed and revered as being endearing as well as, if not exactly inspiring, very much true and sad. It's certainly more serious than 90% of reality television. There's nothing manufactured here, and the picture is painted as accurately depressing as the celebrities' addictions (and anyone's addictions) are. Although, the New York times did refer to VH1 as "the nation's #1 enabler," and I will not disagree. Exploitation is an odd thing.
Then again - is it exploitive if I write a depressing song about something that actually happenned to me? I would think that's up to me. Maybe I find it healing. And how is that different than when Jeff Conaway decides to go to a rehab center that will be nationally televised? Maybe it's exploitation, or maybe Jeff Conaway feels that the pressure of being on television this way will give him more pressure to get sober, or that seeing himself all fucked up on film will be a sobering experience in itself.
In my opinion, it's much more about how the exploitee (for lack of a better term) feels, than how the New York Times does.
That being said, I, again, do understand that most reality shows aren't as serious.
But I still want to punch Lacey from "Rock Of Love" in the face more than I do Darth Vader.
3. Movies (Zack and Miri Make A Porno, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, RockNRolla, Grease, the Three Stooges, Fargo, Clerks X, The Rock, Dead Silence, Max Payne, Hard Candy, Evening With Kevin Smith 3)
One of the (many) reasons I started this blog was to record how I felt about many different types of art (books, film, television, etc.). Since I've last posted, I've watched many many movies and I'm going to try to remember them all here. Good luck to me.I really was disappointed in Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Kevin Smith is great, Seth Rogen is great... I just thought there was a lot of dirty stuff that wasn't that funny. Not to say there weren't many good jokes in it, but I feel like the ratio of flat-time to laugh-time was pretty small. Zack and Miri were also hard to care about, as I feel there wasn't much background to the film, and the only relationship I bought was that between Zack and Miri themselves, 75% into the movie.
Then again, I've gone on record about how I didn't think that 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up were too great (although I have agreed that I will watch them both again before stating a final opinion), so maybe that kind of humor is "in" and I'm just one of the people who don't like it. Comedy/film is subjective.
But Seth Rogen is a great comedian, and Kevin Smith is a great writer/director, and I do expect to see many more projects from them both that I enjoy immensely.
I saw Guy Ritchie's new film, RocknRolla, which I thought was really, really, really good. I just love how it pulls you in EVERY direction during the film, but gives you such a great feeling at the end. Awesome movie. Best new movie I've seen in two or three months.
I also watched Fargo. Pretty good. Atmosphere was good, really enjoyed the characters. The plot/story left a little to be desired but there were awesome turns/scenes/acting in it peppered throughout, and it really kept me interested (as opposed to Burn After Reading, the newest Coen Brothers' film).
Although, I will say that I think independant/small-budget films made during the early-to-mid-nineties sometimes got a little more recognition than they deserved because of the fact that I feel newer and more unique ideas were getting made at that time. I don't know if I think that more risks were neccessarily being taken, but I definitely think that new screenplays and films were being greenlit, at a variety of different budgets, and I think this was very possibly a new thing at the time, and movies like Clerks and Fargo were appreciated more during that point in time because there wasn't such diversity in film.
That's not a good thing or a bad thing. It's just a thing. I discussed it with my associate B Lau tonight and I couldn't tell if he agreed or disagreed. I think it's a possibility.
I watched all the extras on Clerks X recently. Clerks X is the ten-year anniversary DVD release of Clerks, with the final cut of the film, the original cut of the film, the deleted scenes (I believe), a re-created scene (in Clerks cartoon-style animation) that wasn't originally shot, tons of other extras, including a 90-minute documentary about the making of Clerks.
Clerks is a movie I haven't seen in about three years. I basically thought that the dialogue was good, the ideas were funny, and that although I didn't find it as stimulating as I had hoped, understood why it was looked at as a turning point in independant film.
After watching the documentary (which I did find ridiculously stimulating) I am planning on watching Clerks again soon, and looking forward to it.
I watched The Rock recently, the Nicolas Cage/Ed Harris/Sean Connery/Michael Bay affair - simply, awesome. It was the special extender edition, and each of those 130 minutes were great. Michael Bay finds these great action plots that are pretty ridiculous and really drives them hard, and seriously, with great actors and great action sequences. Roger Ebert wrote a great piece on it - this is one of my favorite movie reviews ever.
Although - Roger Ebert says Michael Bay stole some things from Quentin Tarantino, who (little know fact) did an uncredited re-write on the Rock. Ebert still rocks. Sort of.
I watched Max Payne recently and thought it was really, really bad. Just bad. How bad? Well, I'll say this - bad. Don't see it. It was bad.
On Halloween, we watched Dead Silence. Very frightening to me (ventriloquist dummies coming alive is extremely scary, especially when they seem to be more focused on killing people than adapting to society). Not quite as frightening with 6 or 7 people who are talking and eating candy the entire time.
I watched Hard Candy with Alyssa and B Lau soon after (originally a candidate for our Halloween movie) and it held up extremely well since the last three times I saw it. Except this time, not only was it awesome, tense, and extremely interesting for (essentially) a movie about two people in a house, but also amazingly well-shot. Unbelievably good. Go get it immediately - Ellen Page is awesome in it (but not hot at all, like she is in Juno - not that I find pregnant women hot - I find pregnant 16 year olds hot).
We watched Tenacious D: The Pick Of Destiny. Definitely good - love the cameos from Ben Stiller and Tim Robbins. I think the musical stuff in this was awesome, but every time I see it I feel like the ending should have been better, and there should have been a better final struggle. Definitely funny and Jack Black BLEEDS Jack Black in this movie. You dig?
Watched an odd, interesting doc on Warped Tour '98. They have totally public urinals in Europe. Middle of the field. Go up to it, stick in your dick, and pee, while you're totally outside. Fuck that. Interesting documentary, NOFX comes onstage and says it's the worst venue they ever played (the venue, not the tour) and throws all the money they were getting paid for it back into the crowd. NOFX continually murders. Tom and I always see more and more similarities between S*D and NOFX, but maybe that's just wishful thinking.
Me and the lady watched Grease, which was really good. I totally dug all the songs and Sandy was pretty attractive, I must say. Travolta also rocked, but Travolta always rocks. That guy has a sickeningly versatile resume. Awesome movie. Can't believe how sexual it is - the girls will cream for Greased Lightening? Really? It was also awesome to see Jeff Conaway before he was fucked up on painkillers on Celebrity Rehab.
I have to reiterate though - blown away by the sexual content in such a family film. If you really watch it, it's basically about a bunch of high school guys that are pretty much ready to rape any girls around, but the girls are just slutty enough to fuck them anyways. Believe me - in my fanfiction script, "Grease: Some Things Can't Be Un-Greased", all the girls turn down the guys and it gets real ugly, real fast.
Seriously though, watch it again and read the lyrics. Dirty shit, especially for 1978.
I also watched "Disorder In The Court" which is possibly my favorite Three Stooges short film. The physical comedy is SO funny to me. SO SO SO SO funny. Like, I literally cried from laughing so hard about four different times during it. There was also a commercial on the DVD where they hit a MONKEY in the face with a pie. A MONKEY! DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW HUMOROUS THAT IS IN 2008?!?! PETA hasn't let a monkey get hit in the face with ANYTHING on film in the past 40 years, so this was a real treat for me.
I also noticed how funny I think their dialogue is, which is surprising to me. There were at least three lines that I just thought were great. Seriously, I highly, highly recommend it.
Finally, my all-around favorite new DVD that I've gotten is without a doubt, Sold Out: A Three-vening with Kevin Smith. I feel like every time I write my blog, it's half about him.
Anyway, for those of you who don't know, Kevin Smith goes on small tours and just stands in a room and allows people to ask questions, for hours, and he tells stories and answers them the entire time.
Sound boring? It's totally, totally awesome. He is an amazing storyteller, and constantly hits all the right beats. If you get the chance, pick up one the DVD's (Three-vening is the third, and newest). It's great, even for a non-Smith fan. He has a 40-minute story about filming Die Hard 4 that is amazing. Find it.
Also, check out this story. Very crazy. If you haven't seen this guy's original Batman short, check it out. The first time I saw it I freaked. Amazingly well-done (especially considering his budget).
4, Music (NOFX, Girltalk, Bad Larry, The Living Room, Monty's Fan Club, Penrose, and trends - which I'm against! Pretty original, huh?)
We went to go see NOFX at Lupos a few weeks ago. They were amazing. It's just incredible how good they are. It's very odd too, as Fat Mike (the lead singer of NOFX/head of Fat Wreck Chords, one of the biggest independant record labels) always talks about "punk rock" and how punk rock bands are supposed to be shitty, but they are so not. Their harmonies are perfect, their instruments always sound good and full and they play them correctly, they're entertaining and they're just great musicians.They're a four-piece punk rock band (started in 1989) that just grew with the 90's punk movement, have released numerous albums as NOFX, as well as other albums featuring various members, and eventually Fat Mike started an independant record label (featuring bands such as Against Me, Lagwagon, Anti-Flag, the Descendents, Propaghandi, No Use For A Name, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, the Mad Caddies, Strung Out, Less Than Jake, Strike Anywhere, Leftover Crack, Sick Of It All, the Lawrence Arms, Snuff, Rise Against, Screeching Weasel, etc.) and is easily one of the people I admire most in the music world. NOFX's albums are of the most diverse punk rock albums I've ever heard (specifically The War On Errorism) and they have done great things (including a documentary series on Fuse this past summer that was AWESOME).
So when we saw them at Lupos (only my second time seeing them) it was great. They are fast and funny and smart and good. They closed with "Theme From A NOFX Album", which is sort of like S*D's "VBW Song" except it's specifically about each person in NOFX as well as the people close to them who help them out - who were all at this show I was at, singing their parts, playing the accordian - just awesome. The band is so versatile, sometimes they'll use horns or keyboards and it's just such good, non-closed minded punk rock. I would do anything to be on Fat Wreck Chords, and that IS the label for Senior Discount to be on, without a doubt.
Just great. I love them and respect them incredibly.
So we're playing two shows coming up - we're opening for Girltalk on Nov 29th at Lupos. As of today the show had over 1,000 presale tickets sold, and Lupos will sell out at 1,200.
We're not promoting this show (obviously, Girltalk doesn't need our help) so we're not paying attention to exactly how well the turn out will be, and to be honest, I don't have too high of expectations for the S*D boys going in. Not that I have any negative expectations, but I don't want to expect much. We're a band that no one is expecting, or has heard of (in a genre that no one is there for - Girltalk is a mash-up DJ) so I'm expecting to play early, to not many people (although it will probably be sold out, most of the crowd probably won't be there until later on, for the headlining acts), and to get a tepid response.
Although I will say when we opened for Mickey Avalon, we did very well, and were the only band of the night to get an encore, besides the headliner (we were the only band - not punk band - the only BAND on an all hip-hop show).
We'll see. Gregg (Girltalk) has been really super nice to us, for no reason. He saw us at the BRU RockHunt this past summer (when Kevin had quit the band less than 24 hours earlier, and the RockHunt was our third show in 24 hours) and he thought we were good and added us to his CT show immediately (although we could not play it, as Tom had to go to Florida to console a friend).
Since then, when we write him, he answers us immediately, and is always nice and honest.
Also, I found this article that WBRU posted about Lollapalooza - here's a paragraph from it:
"I cut out of Innerparty system to go back to the media tent for a string of interviews. I talked with MGMT about animatronic bear musicians and listening to music in the future on alien spaceships, with Manchester Orchestra about how weird it is when crowds mosh at their shows, with Does It Offend You, Yeah? about The Office and conjoined lovers, and with Girl Talk about how his music isn’t good for dance parties and how he’s still in love with Senior Discount. Those interviews will be aired soon and posted as podcasts, so keep your eyes and ears open"
Pretty cool. We've never talked to Gregg directly about how he feels about us (which I'm guessing is that he thought we were at least energetic and at fun - at best) but we've heard from multiple sources that he's been wicked positive about us and his decision to add us to this Lupos show (and this is the second show he's added us to) as well as the constant positive feedback, seems pretty legit to me. His album Night Sounds is also sick, and you should check it out. Go to myspace.com/girltalk to check him out, and also for links to download his newest album - which you pay what you want for it.
I read an article in the Providence Phoenix recently about this very new band had gone on tour a few times and their short months together. It made me call into question again my feelings about music and bands in general.
I've always felt that bands who just start up and immediately jump to the "next steps" of being in a band (touring, having a nation-wide release of their CD) aren't really giving an appropriate time to their art. I remember when we met Simple Plan. We met them on the Pop Disaster tour (which was the blink 182/Green Day tour when I was in high school).
The bassist of Simple Plan came out of a tourbus to come talk to us - this was before, or during the rise of their single "I'd Do Anything" (which, while I'm not neccessarily a Simple Plan fan, is one of my favorite pop-punk songs) and they were talking to us about their first CD, which was released nation-wide. They played that day and not many people knew them. They, of course, became very successful eventually.
The reason I feel like this isn't the best way to do things is because I feel that you aren't going to flourish as an artist very much when you start at the top or present your first works as, basically, what your finished product is going to be. The band has no time to shape a specific sound or work together and experiment with writing songs for very long.
If you start up in your state/area, and you come out with an EP, or even a full-length album that you push around, get it to places for review, let people around you hear it or experience it, play shows where you are, spread your name out, etc. then you can sort of build a direction, rather than a finalized release.
Take Monty's Fan Club for example, they started out as a ska band, and they released a 10 or 12 song release in 2000. They played continually, got better at their instruments, they lost people that didn't want to focus seriously on the band, and they moved closer to the style of music they actually wanted to produce. By 2005, things were 100% changed for them (different singer, at least three people left and a new one was added, their music style was completely different, grew as songwriters/musicians). And now, they're doing what they want. They took all the small steps that a band should take to grow into themselves.
I believe this is the way to go, and that's a big reason S*D went that way. It was also convenient for us, as we were also entering college at the time the band started, which grounded us here. But I really believe that helps bands grow. I don't think Aerosmith would have changed as much over their career, or that blink 182 would have decided to grow over the course of bigger and bigger releases if they hadn't had room to move up from where they were.
Which is why when I see that a band has been around for 9 months and gone on three tours, I think that it's a little foolish. Groom where you are and start up a solid fanbase. If you can draw 20 people five states away, that's great. But if you come home to where you started and do the same thing, that really sucks.
Plus, alot of bands start up and are very green at being themselves, and at first, for the most part, simply imitate a specific genre or even a specific band they look up to, instead of growing to create something different. Which is fine, artists should inspire you to create art, and even influence it, but I believe that without a doubt, you grow in a more unique direction as you continually create and shape your own priorities and style within that structure.
Of course, on the other hand, if anyone had offered to pay Senior Discount to record their first CD, we would have done it. The fact that people who are passionate about music also need to get paid to do it, is a difficult crossroads. You want to create the best art, and be in the best environment to do so, but you also need to feed yourself and put a roof over your head. Those two things can compromise one another.
So the Bad Larry reunion show is coming up. I'd be ridiculously excited for this even if Senior Discount wasn't co-headlining. Okay, that's a lie. I'm a bitter fuck and would say "what the fuck! WE should be co-headlining that show!" if we weren't. But we are. So there's that.
Bad Larry is one of my top local bands. Everyone appreciates eachother in the local scene, but it's different to really enjoy a band in general. Penrose, for example, is a band I'm sure wouldn't pay any mind or listen to Senior Discount if they didn't know us. Which is fine - people have different tastes in music, and we and Penrose both support eachother within the scene and pay attention to what the other band does and talk to them about it, because we're all friends. They wouldn't neccessarily like us even they didn't know us.
But Bad Larry was a band I really liked. Many of their songs were songs I continually listen to now, and even the ones I don't listen to as often, are still good. They're just a great ska band to our punk band. I think the fact that we came up at the same time, and the fact that our music shared alot of fans, just made us a lot closer than a lot of other bands in the scene. We must have played 25 or 30 shows with them, some huge, some ridiculously small. But we all got along and hung out and it was great. When they broke up it was a super bad time in my life, and I don't think I fully got to appreciate their last show as much as I wish I had. I am extremely excited for this show (especially now that it's at Lupos).
Which brings us to the unfortunate fact that the Living Room has closed. The Living Room was Providence's mid-size venue. There's Lupos (capacity 1200) and the Living Room (capacity 600 or so). That's where the small bands started up, playing to no one, and where the bands that got bigger and bigger would fill up, playing to many, many, many people. It was crazy because so many national tours came through there as well, and you really got to feel like you were first starting to taste that level of accomplishment when you played there.
The Living Room is Senior Discount's home. That's true. We've had so many homeshows there, and seen so many shows there, national and local, big and small. It was just the place where everything started for SO many bands from around here, and you had this huge cast of promoters, sound guys, bartenders, bouncers, other bands, and fans filling up the place constantly. It was always a warm, familiar place for us.
I remember in a magazine once I actually said "The Living Room is Senior Discount home. It's like a bridge and we are the trolls who live under it. Actually Tom is the troll. I think the rest of us are townspeople."
I'm really sad about this, but I'm hoping that it will re-open. I don't know what else they would do with that building. We'll have to see. I guess I'm not really letting it sink in because I believe that it's not gone yet. Let's continue to hope.
5. Video Games (Gears Of War 2, Tetris Party)
I'm still playing Guitar Hero World Tour, as well as Saints Row 2 (which just continually gets better - even after 47 hours of playing time).I got the new Tetris Party game for the Wii, and I have to say - it is awesome. If you're a Tetris fan, this is probably the ultimate Tetris title. I urge you to get it immediately.
Here's a video of co-op play - you and a friend have a window as wide as two Tetris windows and you have to collectively form lines all the way across. It's just awesome.
Besides that, I started playing Gears Of War 2 co-op with my girlfriend. I could not get into Gears Of War 1 (I will give it another chance at some point) but I certainly seem to be getting into this one. Alyssa's favorite games are the Guitar Hero and Gears Of War series. I also got the new James Bond game, Quantum Of Solace...played it for about five minutes. Nothing bad but nothing great, I'll play it more probably.
What I'm extremely excited for is Left 4 Dead, the new zombie game (which I've got my hands on the demo for but haven't played yet). I also got the AC/DC Rock Band game, which I'm sure will not surprise me in the least, but I'll still enjoy playing "Highway To Hell" and a few others.
Nothing new/noteworthy really this week in video game terms for me, but I did find this article really interesting. Are Video Games Art?
6. Technology (Stereo Bluetooth)
I'm waiting for stereo bluetooth to be standard in music players. Stereo bluetooth would mean that you have a Zune or iPod (preferrably Zune) and a pair of headphones with no wires, and the two would connect like that. You, of course, would have a headphone input on the Zune (and possibly on the headphones) for when the headphones aren't charged.The quality of bluetooth so far isn't CD quality - but apparently it will be very soon. I believe things will go the way I described. We'll have to see.
7. My G1
I love my new phone, the G1, so I'm dedicating a whole category to it.Features I Have Gotten In The Past Few Weeks Since I Last Wrote (Specifically, Ones I Actually Use):
- I can use my G1 as a portable hard drive
- Notepad - Pretty simple notepad app. Neccessary!
- aReader - App that lets me read e-books on my phone (e-books are regular books - novels, graphic novels, etc - transcribed to electronic format to read on electronic devices)
- My Google Calendar - so I can always remember when Sousa is ovulating
- BlueBrush - it's basically Microsoft Paint, except I can send my drawing to the Teej after through a picture message (that is, if his iPhone had picture messaging...ouch)
- White Pages Caller ID - this is caller ID that states phone number, name, and adress when people call you (even people not in your contacts list)
- Dial Zero - this app allows me to call any customer service lines without having to talk to recordings/robots first - I go right to a person. Fucking crazy, huh?
- DroidRecord - simple soundrecorder (and you can send it to phones or email adresses)
- Gmail - to stay in touch with my G's
- Email - to stay in touch with my E's (that means my work email)
- Fast Local Search - wherever you are, this app has a bunch of buttons (Food, Shops, Grocery, Fitness, Nightlife, Hotels, Arts, Taxi, Professionals, Medical, Auto, Schools, etc) and it finds the closest thing to you in the specific category you choose - for when you're somewhere you're unfamiliar with - or when you want to find a new place to go
- LangtoLang dictionary - translate any sentence in one language to any other language. As you would have guessed, I use this constantly
- Locale/Locations/GoogleMaps - just keeps track of all my locations, gives me directions to other locations, lets me search for locations and get all their info (adress, phone number, etc) without having to use 411
- Newsreader - this is for all my RSS Feeds (AbsolutePunk.net, Joystiq, Digg Movies, E! Online, Punknews,org, Gamespot, IGN, etc)
- Rock On Altitude - this is really odd. It's all videos, and it's music news, newest music videos, videos of new live performances, interviews, etc. Deals with very mainstream artists. All for the G1. It's really awesome and cool. It's free on the G1, and of course, costs money on the iPhone.
- Restaurant Search - this is a restaurant search fueled by your GPS to tell you restuarants near you and ratings on those restaurants.
- My To Do List - self-explanatory.
- dgMoney - Budget app that just keeps track of seperate lists of money. As Tom Wells says, I'm "made of money" so I really have no limit on money, but I still like to keep track of my spending in different places (checking account, credit cards, paypal, etc)
- Barcode Scanner - scan a barcode with the phone and it will tell you where to buy the product the cheapest - really sick - there are three so far - my favorite is ShopSavvy - you can check it out here - the coolest thing is that you can actually save a product, pick a price you are willing to pay for it, and when the product reaches that price at any store, it will email you. Hell yes.
- Awesome Movie App - You start it up, it takes your location (from the GPS) and figures out all the movies near you, and you click on a movie, where it tells you all the theatres near and the times playing - awesome.
- Gasbot - finds the cheapest gas near you (searches by GPS, obviously)
- Modem Tethering - I can hook up the USB port on my G1 to my laptop in a car (or anywhere) and connect to the internet. Not too shabby.
I also have search stuff - Wikipedia, Google Search, Yellowpages, Youtube, Dictionary - as programs on the phone that are specifically designed for the G1 so that everything is instantaneous and utilized for my phone, as well as, of course, text messaging, picture messaging, all instant message services, Myspace, Facebook, Email, Voice dialing, bluetooth, call forwarding, bleh bleh bleh.
Plus the music player, camera, and video player. They also have stuff that's like streaming radio (you pick an artist, and it streams random songs, or you pick a genre and it streams random songs), and little things that you may only use once (a level, a stopwatch, flashlight, etc) but also make any situation where you need something like that make the G1 look like the best and most-equipped pal you ever had.
By the way - yes, all that stuff is free.
Stuff I Need That Has Not Been Released Yet!
- Touch-screen keypad for the entire phone, like a typical T9 set-up. See, I like the keyboard for smartphones, but when I'm driving and want to type a quick message, I want an onscreen number-pad keyboard to type with one hand to respond to a text or whatever. So far they have released this for dialing, to let you search for a name, but I need it for the rest of the phone.
- Wish they would allow you to set ringtone for a whole group, so if people are in that group it gives them that ringtone by default.
- Chuck Staton Barcode Scanner - I want a barcode scanner that searches for a product (like the Iron Man 2-Disc Blu-ray) on half.com, ebay, Gamestop, FYE, etc in the used sections. As of right now, it only scans for new products, therefore finding answers like "Best Buy - $42.00" when you could get the same title at FYE for $21.00 (and they're usually having a sale on top of that).
- The AIM on the phone is not great - I mentioned this in my review. There's a lot of things wrong with it. I don't really use AIM on my phone but I'd like the option to do so.
- PDF reader (This has been released but still has too many bugs to be considered adequate)
- Audio recorder that records phone calls (This has supposedly been released but I haven't found it yet)
- Flash (not available on the G1 or iPhone yet)
- Real-time, turn-by-turn GPS (This has supposedly been released but I haven't had the chance to test it yet)
- Guitar tuner
- Free restaurant calorie count encyclopedia (a third party company has released this app for $9.99)
- GoogleDocs
- Better Myspace client (the one currently out does not alert you when you get new messages/comments/etc)
- Stereo Bluetooth
- Visual Voicemail (tells you who left you a voicemail before you check it)
- the ability to stream music directly from my home Zune library
- Emulators. They've released a Gameboy emulator that I don't like (but it's good that the wave has started), but I want Gameboy, NES, SNES and Sega on this phone!! They have some for iPhone and they suck ass.
New Stuff That I Don't Use But Is Pretty Sick
Okay I was originally also going to do a little list of stuff that's cool on the G1 but that I don't really use at all. But I can't. The list is too huge. They've added like 250 applications to it already and I'm not going to list another 50 on here. There's no comprehensive list online but when there is one, I'll post it here.
8. Arguments (Chuck Staton vs. T-Mobile)
I love to argue when I'm right, and I only argue when I'm right. Therefore - I love to argue. Here's a rundown of my biggest argument recently.So here's the deal. I got a Sidekick 3, and then a while later, upgraded to a Sidekick LX. Four months after that, I wanted to upgrade again to a G1, which was being advertised as costing $179.99 for existing users.
I went to upgrade, and was told I'd be charged $300 instead, as I had not waited the appropriate amount of time to upgrade - which is 22 months (understandable). So I called T-Mobile to make sure I couldn't upgrade. The lady on the phone told me to upgrade for $300 (which she claimed to be a mistake on the website), and that she'd credit me back the $120 (she apparently had not realized I wasn't eligible for the $179 price). I asked her to make to note my account with this conversation, to make sure it happenned.
A few weeks later (before I received my G1) I called T-Mobile to see when I would get the $120 credit. On the phone, the lady told me she saw the note on my account, but that she couldn't credit me back because I had not yet been charged for the phone in the first place (understandable).
When I finally received my G1, I called T-Mobile to get the credit back, and the first woman I talked to told me pleasantly that I was not eligible for the $179 upgrade, and therefore would not be getting the credit back. I asked to speak to her supervisor, as this was unacceptable.
The first person I talked to, a month prior, assured me I was buying the phone for $179, end of story. If she made a mistake, that is a mistake on T-Mobile's part, and two other people have already confirmed that this conversation did happen, that she did tell me this, and that it all was noted on my account.
So I talk to the supervisor. It eventually becomes a yelling match. She first says "Sorry". I tell her there's no reason to apologize, as she didn't make any mistakes. Later, she says she willl not confirm whether or not the original person told me I'd get the phone for $179 or that it was noted on my account (which was already confirmed by two T-Mobile employees). I tell her she's acting like I made a mistake somewhere, when T-Mobile did and should be apologizing to me. She says she tried to say she was sorry but I told her not to apologize. I countered with "If you won't admit that it happenned, then what the fuck are you apologizing for?"
This, of course, elicits silence, because, of course, there is no explanation.
She tells me I can return the phone for my $300 back because it's within the 7-day "Buyer's Remorse" period, but I tell her I already sold my previous phone, the Sidekick (I didn't actually sell it yet, but hey, I COULD have), as I upgraded to the G1, and had no use for both phones; if I returned the G1, I would be phoneless.
Eventually, I got it out of her that her department can't credit refunds like that, and that I need to speak to a particular different department. I decided to wait the 7-day "Buyer's Remorse" period out, as that way I wouldn't be offered the option to return the phone, and T-Mobile would be more cornered.
When I went to call back, I couldn't remember the name of the new department, so I called the regular T-Mobile Help number once more, to try my luck again.
This lady saw the note on my account, and credited me back the $120 then and there.
"Have a good day Mr. Staton"
"Oh, believe me, I will."
Chuck Staton - 1
T-Mobile - 0
9. Senior Discount Updates (Show with Girltalk, Bad Larry reunion)
Working on the new website, waiting for the new web guy to get back to me. Trying to book bar shows and out-of-state shows, playing with Girltalk, and of course, gearing up for the Bad Larry reunion. Doing all the promo we can. If you need tickets, IM me, message me, email me, call me, or respond here with a comment.Also, if you'd like to help promote
Click to here to download the full-page flyer
Click to here to download the quarter-page flyers (four to a page, cut them out)
Put 'em EVERYWHERE. Playing Lupo's is a huge responsibility and we really want to knock it out of the park. This is not a show to miss.
Recorded drums for the new EP, still waiting to do vocals/guitar stuff. Waiting for White Noise to mix the new song (yes, still waiting).
10. Chuck Staton Updates
My diet has given me a 15 pound decrease so far, which is dissappointing for being 2 months in. Although, I have not started excersizing yet. Or should I say, I had not started excersizing when that weight loss was calculated.As of this week, I started walking an hour a day. Originally I was going to keep my laptop at Tom's house, walk there (half hour), grab my laptop, go across the street to the Metro Diner, drink coffee, do all my S*D work, then when I'm done, put my laptop back at Tom's and walk the half hour home.
Unfortunately, this proved pretty uncomfortabe. No outlets or wi-fi at the Metro, and it was generally uncomfortable just sitting there drinking coffee. The folks were nice I just didn't feel the area.
So, now my plan is different. The Coffee Depot downtown is my new spot (outlets and wi-fi galore, relaxed setting) but is an hour (walk) away. I don't know if I'm down to walk a half hour to Tom's grab my 20 pound laptop (17 inch screen on it, and the laptop's in a steel case) then walk another half hour downtown, then do it all again on the way back.
So my plan is now to drive to Tom's, pick up his (extremely smaller) laptop (if he allows it - he's been fighting me) and walk downtown with that. Hour of walking still, except with a laptop on my back.
He should allow me to do it, as we tend to help eachother out alot (he helps me find the best deals for things at FYE, allows me access to his house to keep my laptop there, and other, non-postable tasks - not sex - and I help him out by letting him borrow money when he needs to, supplying him with dinners, and other non-postable tasks - yes, sex this time.) And recently I gave him a $20 gift card to Shaw's (to get lobster bisque or other lunches - it's right next to his work) for being cool about helping me out with that kind of stuff.
This really works out for me, as at my house I am extremely distracted (Alyssa always wants to cuddle, have sex, play video games and watch movies - all of which I am easily persuaded into doing with her) and I never get the amount of promotion/booking/etc done that I plan on doing. Also, walking to a place helps me. When I walk for an hour around an area and back to my house, I feel like I have no drive to do it.
So starting this week, I am spending a few hours each day at the Coffee Depot. I really really enjoy it. It gives me a chance to correspond by email with Lou, Arcello and Brad, as well as work on my blog, and all the S*D stuff I mentioned. Plus I get to lisen to music through headphones on the walk there, and while I'm writing - I never listen to music through headphones and it is undoubtable the best way.
I've also started keeping a daily log of all the things I do. I know I've already created this blog, but my log is only for me, as it chronicles exactly what I do (and unlike my blog, doesn't talk at all about how I feel about things - it's like the "minutes" of my life), just so I can always recount exactly what was happenning in my life or what I did, at any point in time.
Unfortunately, recently, I've been really bummed out. I have been the happiest in my relationship than I ever have been in a relationship. That drives me most of the time. But I also am really unhappy with the fact that my friends seem to be so far gone, and the old times we used to have just don't seem to exist anymore.
Honestly, one of the reasons we have done any video stuff recently (and why I've been uninterested in them for a while) is because they used to be produced differently. Sousa and I used to hang out constantly, so the jokes in the video used to come from things that happenned to us, and in general the humor (and some specific jokes) would grow in this way between constantly dealing with eachother, discussing our opinions on things, and experiencing normal and abnormal situations together. It came from this common viewpoint and experience together. Now, that doesn't exist.
I only really see Sousa now when it's time to practice or otherwise work on something (like when we wrote his Comedy Bonanza last June, or the video in August), or when he wants to see a specific movie.
It's just completely different, and I feel like getting together to write the videos is the only time we think about them, instead of having them grow, like they used to. It really turns me off to doing them and that's why I haven't been.
The amount of work that S*D now has, in conjunction with my friends not really being around anymore, is also becoming a huge strain on me in conjunction with the band in general. There is so much going on right now and I feel like I'm supposed to handle it all alone.
These are the tasks that I'm tackling alone:
- We have to finish "polishing" the songs Explode RI, That Bitch, Caley's Song, Ataxia (bluegrass), and I'm Crazy (this means make sure they are all as good as we want them to be for recording). This is done by recording the entire song, all parts, all instruments, re-doing any parts that need improvement, adding guitar/bass parts, harmonies, lyrics chances, etc.
- I have to tab out the new violin parts I've written for Caley's Song, and talk to a guy that Christian knows, teach him the song, and get it down with him.
- We have to build the new website, in general. I am designing it and we are getting a graphic designer to make those ideas happen. Also, we had found a guy to build it for us, and now, he is probably pulling out of doing it, and hasn't done anything with the initial designs I sent him five weeks ago. So now a new guy must be found.
- The artwork for the new EP must be created.
- We have to figure out how to promote the release of new website/EP, and figure out all the outlets that will allow us to release our free EP on them (iTunes, mp3.com, etc).
- We need to post HTML bulletins on myspace every day, constantly, to get people to know about the Bad Larry show.
- If we want new shirts and stickers (as we had planned) we have to design them and figure out where to get the money to make them.
- We have to figure out how to implement the 50% off sale we're planning on doing at the end of this month online.
These are the tasks that the band is doing is a whole:
- Practicing twice a week (obviously)
- We're trying to figure out promotional dates to promote for Bad Larry (most likely I will be at 100% of them, then Tom will be at 75% of them, Christian at 50%, and Sousa at maybe one or two) - I'd love to go to the malls every Friday and Saturday to promote, on top of the four or five shows we're planning on, but I can't do it alone, which is what looks like the schedule will be
- We have to promote ticket sales online (Tom commented all the band's myspaces - I dont think he's finished yet, Alyssa commented specific fans, and I have to do the 70+ new friend requests we have and sort out the bands for later promo)
- We (Tom, hopefully) have to figure out our contract with White Noise, as it basically dictates whether or not we will be doing a new album (at all) any time in the near future
- We have to actually SELL THE TICKETS for the Bad Larry show. People are not buying from us, even though we are the cheapest outlet (stores sell them for at least $12, you can buy them online from Bad Larry for $12, we're selling for $10)
- We have to talk to BRU, Motif, the Phoenix, WHJY, 92 ProFM, all about promoting for the Bad Larry show (I am guessing I will complete four of these and Tom will do one)
- Finally - we're supposed to be booking bar shows (and out-of-state shows in general) so we can pay my Grandmother off the $5,000 we owe her (from when we bought the new van) by Christmas. It looks by then that we will have paid her $2,000. We just have not worked on this.
Building the website and demoing/re-writing all the songs are the two hugest obstacles. I'm trying to tackle them alone (and I don't expect the rest of the band to have to do these, as I've always done them) so I would really hope the band would do the rest of the stuff, but of course, I am doing 90% of all the work.
You know. I realized recently how love I much to produce film, music and in general, entertainment and art. It's what I deeply care about and believe in and I love the feeling of creating something great - the new S*D line-up is so good. We are so much better than before, and the new song (which is being mixed) is coming out so, so good. Our best recorded song to-date, byfar.
I think we have such a great talent/attitude now. So much better than than we were, and I so wish we were all working on furthering it.
Tom used to shoulder alot more of the "technical" end (booking shows, html promo, selling tickets) and that was really helpful, but he stopped doing that around the time he got his promotion, so now he works 44 hours a week, and it really is more than that, as he leaves an hour before wor and returns 45 minutes after he's out, plus he's constantly tired, as he has to get up early. It has completely changed the way we work and we have been so much less (financially) productive since then, which is even worse as we added the cost of the van, plus a monthly rental of our practice space.
On top of this, in two weeks, he will be working six days a week instead of five, until the new year.
I know I shouldn't put it all on Tom, but he is the one who was doing a certain amount of work, and then drastically reduced it, which really made things hard on me. We need to re-group and split it more evenly. I think this will be easier when Sousa gets out of school in a month or so.
I've been urging Tom to get a new job so he doesn't have to work so much but he doesn't seem to be really following up on his leads, because he is comfortable where he is. Honestly, I don't know if you can be the manager of a store who's time is taken up so much, and still expect to move forward as an artist.
The truth is, I don't know much longer I can swing all the work, especially when I just feel like I have my friends around so much less. Sometimes I look at my life and all the things I want to do, and I seriously consider packing up all my stuff and moving away with Alyssa. Giving up on any sort of emblance of being an artist/entertainer as Chuck Staton or with Senior Discount, and just getting a regular job and concentrating on saving money and...getting old.
I don't ever do things without discussing them with people or thinking about them thoroughly, but I do feel closer to doing that than I ever have before.
Speak for yourself, and don't pray for me,
chuckstaton
PS - I stole that "use a line from a song to sign off when writing" thing from Brad. This is the one time I will credit that to him.
