Vegas.

I was looking through some recent blogs and it appears that I never mentioned I'm going to Vegas.

Yep, Vegas.

Leaving on Saturday. Staying until Thursday.

Sweet, right? Gambling? Partying? Boozing? Hookers and blow?

Not quite. I'm going for a conference for work. A few days of how awesome Help Desks are. Seminars and lectures and company booths and free stuff like pens and hats and refrigerator magnets. (OK, and maybe a little gambling, partying, and boozing.) The conference doesn't start until Monday, so I have the second half of Saturday and all of Sunday to do whatever. I can register for the conference on Sunday, but that should only take a few minutes, and more importantly, I don't have to get up early to do it.

But check these perks out. It's a work-related trip so the 'B pays for airfare, hotel, and food. That's a sweet way to see Vegas, (or anyplace really.) And we're not talking some shitbag, flea-ridden hotel. No sir. We'll be staying at Mandalay Bay. And I just found out that since we're traveling on a Saturday, that's also considered work-related, so we'll be getting paid for that as well. Getting paid overtime rates to fly to Vegas. America, what a country!

So, yeah, all I'm paying for is any gambling, drinking, and entertainment. Unfortunately the Bunny Ranch is a 7 hour drive, so that's probably out.

Another side perk is what I will NOT be doing. The 'B is introducing a new piece of infrastructure to our WEB environment next week. One that could potentially knock out a bunch of companies. As such, we alerted all the companies over a month ago, and asked them to particiapte in a connectivity test we set up for them so that they could transition smoothly. To date, about 1/3 of the companies have tested, most with issues. So come May 1st, when this box goes in, predictions around the help desk is that the shit is euphemistically going to hit the fan. And I won't have to be here to deal with it. Likely what will happen is that the box will get pulled, and we'll return to our regular environment early that day, but this will be after the phones ring off the hook for a while and angry customers complain.

Personally, my respone would be "Fuck 'em". We gave you a month and multiple notifications to test and you didn't do it, but this type of customer unfriendly attitude is probably why I'm not running the company. And really, it doesn't matter because....well, I'll be in Vegas!

Some reviews of recent things (that aren't dinner)

I went to T.T. the Bears last night and saw Damone and the Charms. Damn good show! Damn good. The last time I saw Damone was before their latest album came out and I wasn't very impressed. However, some time has passed andI've since bought (and really dig) the album and I liked this show quite a bit more. The Charms, well I've always liked them, and they're chugging along still solidly bringing the rock. Definitely a good enough Tuesday night that it more than makes up for the Wednesday morning I have to endure because of it.

More importantly, this was the first show at T.T.s I've seen in a while that sounded really good. T.T.s has never been the best sounding room, and it had only gotten worse when they raised the ceiling on the floor in front of the stage. It seems like ever since they did that, no one could figure out how to mix a band to account for it. Not so last night. The vocals for both bands could have been louder, (at least from where I was standing), but aside from that it sounded great.
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I saw Hot Fuzz over the weekend. Once I tempered my expectations of the film (about half way in) I really started enjoying it. I was expecting a spoof on action movies, and it was more of an homage. Honestly, I should have known better going in, as this film was made by the same people that did Shaun of the Dead, which was the same. Not quite a spoof, but more of a homage. It was as perfect as all the film geeks would have you believe, but it really was quite good, and the big action/gunfight scene at the end was worth the price of admission alone, (although you do need to see the rest of the film to really get the impact.)
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OK, I lied, here's a food review.

The Phantom Gourmet posted his "Great Ate" burgers, which are his 8 best burgers in the Boston area. Well, I let no man tell me what burgers are best, without judging for myself. So I tasked myself to visit all 8 establishments and jusge for myself. I went to the first one over the weekend: R.F. O'Sullivans in Somerville. It looks like a little townie bar tucked away on Beacon St. Now, to be fair, I'd heard that their burgers are great before the Phantom's review, as I have friends that have been there. So, I collected a couple such friends (Laura and Rob) and we headed over. And DAMN! if that wasn't a great burger. It was one of those thick mothers that makes you wish your mouth were bigger so that you can actually fit it in there. I got the Blackjack, which was spiced with...??? something, and a chepolte mayonaise. Mmm, mmm.

1 down, 7 to go.

Sunday dinner

Sunday dinner kicks ass. Well, a good dinner on any night kicks ass, but the motivation to actually prep and cook a dinner is not always there. Luckily, often on Sundays, I don't have to prep and cook, just eat. It's been a new-ish tradition that Krista and Joe often host Sunday dinners over at their place, usually a couple times a month. There is no better way to cap off a weekend than with that, let me tell you. And it's been so good that it's inspired me going forward to at least try and uphold that tradition for myself on the weeks where they do not host. To give you an example, by past three weeks' Sunday dinners:

Last night: Turkey, baked beans (marinated in whiskey) and green bean salad. Served with margaritas and Dale's Pale Ale. (Krista and Joe's)

Last week: Pork chops and potatoes marinaded in a lemon/garlic/onion/parsley "sauce", asparagus, cornbread. Served with whatever beer I had in the house. (At my place, with my roommate.)

Easter Sunday: Ham (in an orange glaze), different green bean salad (with bacon), carrots marinaded in ginger ale, mashed potatoes. Served with a variation of a mojito that is made with ginger beer and either gin, rum, or vodka. I tried all three; the gin was the best. I call them Joejitos. (At Krista and Joe's, and pretty much the best meal I've had in a long time.)

I can get used to this type of eating. "Fat and happy" would be a term I could cheerfully embrace. The past few weeks I've actually been looking more forward to Sunday than any other day of the weekend, and that's unusual.

You all fail

More than anything I feel angry about the horrible incident down at Virginia Tech. Yes, I do feel badly for those that lost their lives and their families and friends, but mostly just all the failures that surround this story make me mad.

The school and the parents of the shooter? You all fail. Apparently the school knew two years ago that this kid was a potential danger to himself and others. So much so that they tried to have him involuntary committed in 2005. When that failed? Nothing. There hasn't been much about the parents in this story, yet. Perhaps they were good parents, perhaps not, but I can't believe they did not know about this situation. And if you did, then what? Why was your son allowed to remain in a situation where he'd already been deemed dangerous? In the world we live in nowadays, we are all too aware of how a situation like that could end up. Unfortunately, just how it did. I'm sure we'll find out more as this story is mined of all possible angles by the media.

Speaking of which, the NBC? You fail. Way to go, publishing this jerkoff's "maifesto". Way to go, giving him any amount of validity or legitimacy by reporting on that crap, reading his words, showing those pictures and videos. Now you will spread a message of potential to any others who could be susceptible to follow in such footsteps. And when the outcry came from VT students today about how allowing this to air, how seeing pictures of this kid pointing guns at a camera, was hurtful to them (and rightly so), you then reported on that story while showing the same pictures in the background? You're a real class act.

And let's not forget Mr. Cho Seung-Hui. You fail the most. You failed at life. You don't die like Jesus Christ; he died for us, not killing us. You die like the prick you were. Unfortunately you may be correct in saying that you'll inspire others. I don't know what the cause is, but it appears that we as a society hurt more these days. Perhaps the way we feel now is the way we've always felt. Perhaps as a society we've "grown up"---and I use that term in the sense that we, as people, as we grow up, don't necessarily always grow moer matrure, but we do become more cognizant of what we feel. Perhaps as a society there is a parallel. Perhaps as a society we've always felt this pain, this disappointment and regret, this anger, but only now realize what it is we feel and act out on it. The problem is is that the acting out more and more comes at the expense of others. What would I say to any that would follow in such footsteps? Actions such as these only end your pain, and don't confuse something that takes away your pain with something that heals it. Morphine can take away the pain of illness, but it does not cure it. For whatever the reason, hurt and sadness seems much more prevelant among us as the years go by, as a new century begins, and actions such as this only perpetuate a cycle where this sad fact can only get worse and worse. For all that you feel slighted, alone, misunderstood, you are not. This is not an exclusive club; in fact the membership appears to be nothing but growing. The brain is not the most logical organ, but with the realization of your pain should be the realization that you are not the only person that feels the way you do. Everything you feel has been felt before. However, the vast majority of us don't try to shoot away our problems. Although I'll never be accused of being the most positive person, while it seems that others can sometimes be responsible for what we feel, it is your own mindset that determines how you you deal with it. To claim, as Mr. Cho does, "you did this to yourself" is disingenuous, in the end we are responsible for our own actions, we are responsible for our own hearts.

The band bio (a.k.a. About Us)

Myspace is really great for some things. And not just for shopping for girls who find that this is an ideal forum for posting those cleavage and underwear shots of themselves that they've had lying around, just waiting for the right venue to show them off.

It really is a great venue for bands. In fact, it really has supplanted to some extent the need for bands to create and maintain (and pay for) their own website. Especially on a local level. A Myspace band page has all the perks of a regular band page. You can see the band, read about the band, hear the band, find out where the band is playing. And more importantly, a Myspace band page has the ability to easily reach a larger number of people.

As such, I've gone and created an account for the new band. At this point we're going by the name Pawnshop Diamonds. The first pleasant surprise is that there are no other Pawnshop Diamonds listed on Myspace. We're the first, and currently the only. (I've also grabbed a gmail address under that name as well.) The site isn't available yet as it's still being created, but once it is we will start befriending people. But we still need pictures. We still need tunes for it. (Hopefully, we'll be going in to record a 4 song demo next month; until then, I'm hoping the other band members would be cool with us using the already recorded acoustic demos that me and Matt recorded. I have to ask them about that.) And we still need our "About Us" section. This is essentially a short band bio, describing us.

Now, this we should already have. I set myself the task of writing it last week. And then have since drawn a complete blank, not getting down word one. For me, this is one of the hardest things to do. I had the same problem when I was in All Eyes On, to the point that we eventually had a friend of the band write it for us.

For me, I want the bio to be cool, but not cheesy, and that's a hard line to straddle. A certain amount of cliche is unavoidable, but how to make it not sound cliche? How to stay away from certain terms that rock bands seem to think sound cool, but invariably end up sounding silly? But at the same time, how to not be totally bland about it? I've written (or attempted to) plenty of different things, in plenty of different styles, but this type of thing always flumoxes me. So much so that I'm writing a blog about writing a bio than actually trying to write a bio right now.

Actually, I'm hoping that this could help jar something loose, because I'd really like to get this damn bio done. And once I do? "Coming soon to a Myspace page near you..."

Monday updates

Way to start the week off on a bad foot. I was supposed to be working the 12-8 shift today, but forgot all about that until I got to work at my usual time. So, instead of still being home in bed, I will be working 8-8. Oops.
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But I did have possibly the greatest Easter dinner last night. Did dinner over at Krista and Joe's, with some peeps. On the menu: (traditional Easter) ham, glazed in some kind of orange sauce, mashed potatoes, carrots marinated in ginger ale, and a green bean casserole thing. Topped off with some variations on a mojito which featured either rum, vodka, or gin and topped with ginger beer. (The type of alcohol didn't matter as much, since the ginger beer was the dominant taste, but having had one of all three variations, I can say the gin was the best, because you did taste that one the most, and the gin and ginger beer tastes were complimnetary.)

But, even having had Sunday dinners at K & J's before, this was probably the best, merely from the standpoint of deliciousness.
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I've begun the new gear acquiring. Picked up a new (used) Telecaster for relatively cheap money. I'll be playing around with it for a few weeks before I bring it in to have it set up, so I can decide whether or not to stay stock or upgrade the pickups. Also, I picked up my Holy Grail reverb pedal (which in turn will likely prompt me to build myslef a pedal board soon, as moving these things around will be a lot easier with one.)

That's what I've picked up so far. I still have about $300 in the gear fund left over from selling the Mesa Boogie head (which, by the way, update: I did. I sold it on Thursday to the first guy who came to take a look at it. That was surprisingly easy.) And hopefully I'll be able to add another $300-$350 from selling my cab soon. With that, I can go two ways.

1) The way I SHOULD go: a new (used) acoustic. There was a Takamine at the same store that I bought the Tele at that was pretty good. Deeper, fuller body than the Takamine I currently have, better wood, fuller sounding, but still clear, and only $400. And then a new (hopefully used to save money) Fender Blues Jr. amp. That will be my practice at home and backup amp should anything happen to my Tophat (god forbid.) My other guitar player has one and it sounds pretty good, so I'll probably go that route myself (unless I were able to find another used Tophat at ridiculously cheap, "I don't know what I have, so I'm underselling it" money.) This is the way I should go. The responsible way.

2) The way I sort of want to go, but shouldn't. We'll still go with the new acoustic. But after that, instead of the amp, go with perhaps another pedal (a univibe?) and a cheap either mandolin or banjo. Buying the amp is more responsible, because I should have a backup, and honestly I'd end up doing it sooner or later either way, but with gigging potential soon, I should do it sooner and be prepared. But the heart wants what the heart wants, and right now it wants a mandolin/banjo. Which is totally silly because, aside from learning either, I can't forsee a lot of places where they'd get used in current songs. You can overuse either pretty quickly.
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And lastly, me and my roommate went and looked at an apartment on Saturday. We still haven't heard anything definitive about the status of our house/apartment, but are preparing for the (better) chance that we will have to move. This apartment looking Saturday was very spur of the moment. Although we haven't gotten any recent updates from our landlord, we were both sitting on the couch looking at apartments on Craigslist on Saturday morning. We ended up seeing a listing for a three bedroom in Cambridge that was actually in our price range, (albeit at the very top of it.) So, we called the guy and he offered to show it to us that morning.

Sure, it was a total shithole. But the more important aspect to this story is just more of the realization that we're probably going to have to go through this process soon. We have to gear up for it. On one hand I'm not looking forward to it, but that's just because I'm not looking forward to the actual act of having to move. On the other, I am, because I no longer have to worry about who I'm living with, (that's apparently already been answered), and I'm looking forward to trying to find a place with that thing I've coveted since I moved to Medford: an actual outdoor porch for grilling and beer drinking. Who'd've thought that this would be such a selling point for me, but there you have it. If we have to move, it'll probably be by or during the summer and if we're able to find a place with just such a porch, it'll be right in the prime season for beer drinking and grilling. And that is definitely worth looking forward to.

Selling more gear

The time has come. I'm selling my halfstack. By-bye Mesa head and Marshall 4x12. It's bittersweet. On one hand, with the Tophat in the mix, the half-stack wouldn't be seeing much use, but on the other, I've had that amp for ten years and have grown quite attached to it. Getting rid of it is going to be a little hard.

But I think I have someone coming by tonight to take a look at the head. He's offering $900, which is a fair chunk of change, and only $100 less than I was asking. Hopefully I can get another $300-$400 for the cab. And you know what that means:

More new gear.

Any proceeds from old gear almost always get rolled over into new gear, and this is no exception. My current list of possibilities include:

- Another Tophat 1x12. This way I can A/B two Tophats, one for a clean tone and one for distortion. And besides, it would just look cool. This is a dark horse, however, because if I went this route, it would be the only piece of gear I could afford.
- If not another Tophat, I will need a second amp, for rehearsing at home and in the event that something happens to my Tophat, and I need a backup gig amp. (Cross your figners that never happens.) I'm probably looking at Fenders here, but I need to research further. My other guitar player plays a Blues Jr. that sounds pretty good and that I could probably get fairly cheap.
- A new acoustic. This is a recent consideration, but I could use something a little better than the Takamine, which has been a great guitar, but is a little beat up after approximately 15 years of use. Besides I'd like something with a deeper body and real wood backing, for a fuller tone.
- Another new electric. The two front runners right now would be another Telecaster or a Gibson SG.
- A banjo/mandolin. Luxury item, but one I'd consider if I could find one for cheap money. Just so I could have something new to learn and possibly use to spice up some tunes.
- Some pedals. I definitely need a reverb pedal. The Tophat doesn't have reverb, and mostly that's OK, but I'd like a little for my solos. And a univibe pedal is definitely up there on the list. Also included here would be an actual pedal board.

That's the list as of right now. If I didn't go the second Tophat route (and I probably won't), and if I get what I want money-wise for the stuff I'm selling, I should be able to afford a few of these. Like maybe a new guitar (electric or acoustc) + new amp + pedal(s) combo. It's time to start scouring Ebay and Craigslist and hitting up the better stores in the area for used gear.

Some of that good will...back.

That "song" I had mentioned in yesertday's blog, well I brought it to practice last night and it's definitely a band song. And even better is that it's coming together fairly quickly, which doesn't happen very often. Let's go behind the curtain for a minute.

When you write a tune, or a riff, or a chord progression, or anything that you want to bring in to a band situation, it's never as easy as bringing it in and voila! it's a done deal. It might be for solo artists, or bands where one person is the main writer without question. I like to try and keep it more democratic (while at the same time being the asshole that doesn't like having his genius musical ideas contradicted; it's a dichotomy, I know). At any rate, an idea comes in, and whether or not it gets used, there seems to be a lot of discussion or hemming and hawing about it. That's cool, but sometimes it happens to the point where it gridlocks and nothing happens. We've been sort of in that mode for a while. Partly, it's my fault. I've been bringing in half formed ideas with the intention of having them fleshed out in a band format. I like working like that, but at the same time two things have to happen to make that work: 1) The band has to have a knack for writing with each other, and that takes time. We're not fully there yet, but that's something that just comes with time and familiarity. And 2) The band has to be "feeling it' when you attempt it. Even if you've been playing together for years, you still have to be "feeling it" on a particular night when you try to write like that. Let's face it, sometimes you're not.

With this new tune, (note, I call it a tune, because I had both a verse and chorus part worked out, as opposed to just one or the other; certainly they weren't arranged yet, but both main parts were there), I had a good nucleus already when I brought it in, and here's how it went:

I got there and Kevin (other guitar player) was already there, setting up. We warmed up a bit and I showed him the part. We jammed it out a bit. He put a sweet lead over an "intro", and I showed him both guitar parts for the verse, and we decided which of us would play which. We jammed through a rough arrangement that was essentially verse-chorus-repeat. Jon (drummer) and Matt (vocals) showed up roughly about the same time. (Our bass player, Rick wasn't able to make it last night.) Me and Kevin jammed out the rough arrangement and Jon jumped in, throwing a nice little groove underneath. We worked it out a little further while Matt was getting himself set up. We then did a run through or two with matt singing some garbage lyrics (basically just throwing stuff out off the top of his head) to test out some melodies. The verse sounded really good, the chorus not as much. Matt did mention that he wasn't feeling the chorus as far as melodies This was probably over the span of 45 minutes or so.

We then took a break from it and ran through the rest of our tunes. At the end of the night, we took one more run through it. Same as the last time. Verses sounded a little more "ready" than the chorus. We then broke for the night. Jon and Kevin left and Matt mentioned that he still wasn't fully on board with the chorrus. He then played me an idea from something he had been working on as another option. It sounded good; the chords were almost exactly like "Ballad In Urgency" by the Black Crowes, but the melody was totally different. It sounded good and fit, and Matt seemed cool with my asking if I could either throw in a riff or rhythmic change to downplay the Crowes comparison, (which I haven't done yet; I need to sit down with it and think out some ideas). We then might take the original "chorus" idea and turn it into a solo section, because the music is pretty sweet.

Total time worked on tune, (so far), including my writing it the night before: approximately 3 hours. And I think we have the potential for a really cool tune here.

This is how it goes on a good night. And while it's few and far between to have a night like that, when you do, it leaves you in a great mood.

All that good will...gone

Even just taking one day off from work does wonders for the psyche. Waking up on a Monday morning and realizing you don't have to get out of bed? It's great. Spending an entire day doing whatever you want when usually you'd be sitting at a desk? Can't love it enough. But the problem is, whether you take a day off or a week or a month, that you eventually do have to go back. Until you win the lottery, that is. And as soon as you get back, it's like all that good will you've gathered in your vacation time is immediately gone when there are 58 unread emails for you to check and open calls that once again need your attention and all the work-related problems you had last week are still there when you get back. They didn't go on vacation. (Note: by "work-related" problems I am referring to ongoing technical issues that we are currently working with companies on. Difficult issues with answers that we don't have. The type that give you headaches.)

This is why any vacation short of a permanent one will never be long enough. As a friend of mine recently said: We are not meant to work. We are meant to hang out warm places, drink good drinks and eat good food. And although this observation was made in a somewhat drunken state, it still sounds good to me.

Thankfully I have a little Kyuss to get me through these early morning hours.
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I had mentioned recently about my lack of inspiration as far as guitar playing goes. usually when this happens, I just put the guitar down and wait for inspiration to come back from it's vacation. Unfortunately it had stuck around longer than I would have liked this time. Until I took the advise of my keychain.

Many years ago, Elizabeth gave me a keychain that contained a quote from Jack London that said: "You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." Bearing that in mind, I turned off the TV last night, shut down the XBox 360, lit up some candles, sat in a chair that was not right in front of my computer, and made myself come up with something new. The jury's still out whether or not I like it, but it's definitely better than the nothing I've been producing. Let me amend that, I do like it, I'm just trying to figure out where it fits. Is it something I can use with the band, or does it not quite fit that vibe and would it be better as a "solo" piece? That's what I need to figure out. I also did come up with a few other riffs that aren't particularly solid on their own, but could make good additions to songs in progress eventually. If they don't get forgotten, they'll go on the riff pile. And I may have also come up with an arrangement I like for a song idea that's been hanging around for a while; throwing in an unnecessary modulation seems to add just that right flavor that it's been missing.

Either way, whether there are any keepers there or not, it just felt good to get something going.