Death of a Hot Water Heater...

It's the simple things in life that make you love it, however when a thing like your hot water heater finally departs this world, oh you know it!
Like any other day, I got up and prepared for my morning shower, set the knobs right where they should be, and turned on the shower head. After a few minutes I began to get in and "Holy Shit!!, that's cold!!" and immediately jumped back out. I knew immediately what was the problem, I had been noticing over the past few days that my showers had been getting shorter because of the water getting colder much faster, but I just dismissed it as being wintertime, was I wrong. I went to investigate the circuit breaker, hoping that maybe it had just been thrown, nope. I then went to the water heater to discover that it was slightly leaking and a circle of dampness around the base, "Shit!" Now, I don't know what to do. Let's hope for an easy fix in the future!

Now, I get the lovely privilage of going to work feeling like a used condom, yay! Nothing like sitting around your fellow coworkers smelling like a foot. Luckly, for me, I'm a guy so I can just throw on a hat and wash my face with cold water and it hides most of the damage. Also, I'm an archaeologist, so we generally smell anyway.

Oh, how I will miss my hot water heater, it gave me two months of happiness and now it's back to being poor and bathing in the sink. Makes you think how spoiled our society is, eh?

Hot Water Heater Nov 30, 2007-Feb 21, 2008 R.I.P.

Ah...Moving, Sweet Tears of Pain

Originally Posted On December 3, 2007
Ah the great joys in moving to a new home! First, there's the headache of finding a place worth moving to. Second, arguing over the price. And thirdly, the great pleasure of moving everything you've manage to hoard together your entire life, fun eh?But don't get me wrong, I'm SO glad to be moving out of the virtual shit hole I've been living in for the past year and a half, but damn! I've forgotten how much shit I have.
Well, for a few months now I'd been looking for a new place to call my home and I thought I'd found one in the old historic district of 4th & Gill in North Knoxville. However, my dad thought differently, and insisted on me moving to West Knoxville to be closer to my sister, who's pregnant with her first child. Knowing I couldn't afford any kind of apartment/house in that neighborhood my dad assured me he would help me out if I needed it, sweet!
To my amazement I found a house near my sister in just two weeks of looking that was perfect for me. A 3 bedroom house with a 50x30 yard backyard, which I absolutely love. I had to negotiate a bit about the rent and the lawn duties, but I'm actually happy for once in my life about where I'll be.
Now just comes the headache of moving all of my stuff! Isn't it amazing how when you move all of your things at one time, what you find? I found magazines and notes from friends dated 8 years ago! Not mention things that I had actually been looking for and just chalked up as being stolen or lost. You can't help at laugh at yourself though when you find something like that and you kick yourself for not looking there when you were so actively looking for it when you couldn't find it. And then of course you laugh when you find missing things from your past, like notes from friends, and how it takes you to the exact moment of when that event occured in your life.
So, in a way Moving can be a blessing. It's a way of taking a step forward in life and a way of refecting back on your life in what you've just left behind. Sweet Tears of pain of moving......

Midlake - "The Trials of Van Occupanther"

Originally Posted On November 18, 2007

Released in July of 2006 the sophomore effort by Denton, TX band "Midlake" is one the best albums of the early 21st Century. The Denton, Texas five-piece Midlake did pretty well for themselves with their 2004 debut Bamnan and Silvercork. While no one would label that record brilliant, or even fully realized, it did have enough vision and scope for critics to group Midlake with some pretty good company that included The Flaming Lips, Grandaddy, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Mercury Rev. The common refrain in most reviews of Bamnan and Silvercork centered around “psychedelic” and “quirky” and the easy line that could be drawn from those words to the band’s associated influences. Midlake does a lot with The Trials of Van Occupanther, but perhaps the most notable accomplishment is the ease with which they have graciously acknowledged those influences while simultaneously telling them to eat their musical dust.The Trials of Van Occupanther is such a nuanced, finely layered work that Midlake has certainly crafted one of the best releases of 2006. The band has packed much sonic punch into the album’s 11 songs by using a variety of strings, keyboards, woodwinds, guitars, piano, and percussion. It’s the kind of ambitious music that recalls the finer moments of the classic rock canon. I’m talking about songs that both evoke and at times equal everything from Neil Young to Fleetwood Mac to Jethro Tull to ELO to Dire Straits. That may be some pretty heavy company for a young band to be compared to, but a couple of listens to the album will make you a believer.While The Trials of Van Occupanther is intended to be a concept album about a fictional character’s trials and tribulations, it isn’t very hard to place the emotional content in the songs as barely disguised declarations of the group’s—and singer/songwriter Tim Smith’s—own internal life. Still there’s a certain ballsy-ness, if not nobility, in crafting a concept album so musically engaging.The actual story of Van Occupanther may be more obscurant than overt or literary, but the music is so perfect it’s impossible to hold the narrative shortcomings against Smith and the rest of the band. The Trials of Van Occupanther is a character piece set a few hundred years ago. The story has the whiff of a British nobleman in colonial Africa, though it could just as well be about a lonely coal miner in 1891 Appalachia. Honestly, it really doesn’t matter, and I won’t spend a lot of time dissecting the narrative the band has put together. The individual songs steal the show; a cohesive narrative from beginning to end seems less than important. Besides, it gives the band something to strive for on their next record.Two songs from The Trials of Van Occupanther are currently making the Internet rounds. The lead track “Roscoe”, which the bands’ press notes say has been downloaded close to 100,000 times, and “Young Bride” are the most indie rock-friendly tracks on the album. But patience and a few listens will reveal gleaming gems that rock circles around Snow Patrol and Arctic Monkeys.“Head Home” is blessed with the kind of melody and soaring harmony that would make it at home on late ‘70s Top 40 radio (and that’s a compliment) while still sounding vital today. Smith uses his weary warble to full effect on “Head Home” as he acknowledges that “there’s someone I’d like to see, she never mentions a word to me” before bowing his head and sadly singing, “I think I’ll head home.” The chorus slides easily into a brief squall of a guitar solo that sounds like frustration translated into music. It’s a crafty, well-written moment in an excellent song.“Branches” is a melancholy tale of unrequited love anchored by a gentle piano that soars with power ballad bravado at the line, “We won’t get married because she won’t have me.” The muscular chorus fades into a quiet refrain of, “It’s hard for me, but I’m trying.” As is the case with many of the tunes here, Midlake excels at carefully adorning their songs with just enough extras—a synth here, a piano there, a string section peeking through—to make the songs extraordinary.There must be something in the water down in Denton, Texas. In addition to Centro-matic and The Baptist Generals, we can now add Midlake to the city’s roster of impressive bands. With The Trials of Van Occupanther, Midlake moves immediately to the front of the pack.

Sample This: Roscoe

Jim O'Rourke - "Eureka"

Originally Posted On November 16, 2007

Chicago certainly seems to be in its creative element and Jim O'Rourke right in the middle. I admittedly only discovered the varied talents of Mr. O`Rourke (improviser,producer,classically trained musician) with the release of the movie "Love Liza" with Philip S. Hoffman in which a great deal of Mr. O'Rourke's music is in it's soundtrack. However I was not surprised to learn that he was once apart of a band called Gastr Del Sol on which I had vaguely listen to an album called Camoufleur. Jim O'Rouke's album Eureka thankfully carries on in a similar vain with more pop sensibilities (something big), lavish accompanies (female backing vocalists) and wonderfully eccentric lyrics ("its just my luck, I got hit by the car while carrying a cake" ghost ship in a storm). However that doesn't mean that your getting away with any m.o.r release, plenty of beautifully constructed scoundscapes and studio wizardry that you would come to expect from any cd that has been tampered with by Jim O'Rourke. Track one, "Prelude to 110 or 220/women of the world", starts the of simple but ends with everything but the musical kitchen sink and happens to be one of the the albums stand out tracks. Its a folky guitar piece with three lines of Jim's wisdom repeted about twenty times over eight minutes (notice how almost every time the lines are repeted another voice is seamlessly added to the mix, nice eh?). The rest of the album carries on in a similar style with nods to jazz, folk, lounge and or course easy listening. I have to admit to reaching for the skip button when ever the initially cringe worthy cover of bacharach's "something big" started, but was hooked after the first full listen, now its going to be used at parties in order to impress and amuse friends. Eureka's real gem is the albums title track with flawless O'Rourke trademarks, Minimal but effective backward and acoustic guitar, loose but perfectly positioned horns washed in a heartfelt landscape of dots and bleeps, used to create an extremely uplifting tapestry of sound. This also happens to be Eureka's most minimal but courageous assets. The main reason why I am so fond of this album is because anyone who is trying to dig the way through avant garde, post rock, experimental or improvised music will know that it can at times be a little dry (don't get me wrong Jim O'Rourke's previous back catalogue is some of the best music to ever grace my cd rack) and Eureka gives the perfect remedy for hard worked ears while showing us that even "pop" songs can be wonderfully inspiring if done with the correct care, love and attention that Jim O'Rourke has done with his latest effort.

Download This: This album is really best listen to as a whole, but if you have to choose get: A Ghostship In A Storm

"Politics Is The Art of Controlling Your Environment" - by Hunter S. Thompson

"That is one of the key things I learned in these years, and I learned it the hard way. Anybody who thinks that "it doesn't matter who's President" has never been Drafted and sent off to fight and die in a vicious, stupid War on the other side of the world-- or been beaten and gassed by Police for trespassing on public property-- or been hounded by the IRS for purely political reasons-- or locked up in the Cook County Jail with a broken nose and no phone access and twelve perverts wanting to stomp your ass in the shower. That is when it matters who is President or Governor or Police Chief. That is when you will wish you had voted." - Dr. Gonzo

SEC Football - A Year of Turmoil

Originally Posted November 12, 2007
Like all good sports fans, I was excitedly awaiting the beginning of the 2007 College football season, a time of college and state pride and a never ending excuse to get blacked-out drunk and yell at the person next to you. But like most fans of SEC football this year, it's been a mixed feeling of excitement followed by a array of "WTF" moments.
Some people just don't get college football, mainly people from the North, they just don't understand all the traditions of pride that follow teams around from state to state. Yes, yes, northerners do have their baseball, but to me, baseball just doesn't have a true feeling of state pride that college football does. I guess because college football, like all college sports, is a time just before the athletes get greedy (look at AROD!). You look today at professional sports and you just see the decay of all what was once good and holy to a whole country. I think that's why sports fans in the South and West prefer to cheer for the younger more eager athletes of college sports.
But there have been some very weird football games on Saturday--amazing comebacks, stunning failures, and one crazy display of unsportsman like conduct in Jacksonville that left the whole college community in awe. This year, more than most, has probably been a gamblers nightmare. Who could blame them if the snapped and started shooting up the town? The craziness of this year though is enough to drive any loyal fan nuts and send them looking for something else.
But the days of the dynasty are over! No longer will you see a team go undefeated or has domination year after year in college football, especially in the SEC. For years now, the SEC has been getting stronger and stronger. Even what was once considered the "gimme" games are now turning into upsets, aka LSU losing to Kentucky 43-37 in overtime or Tennessee coming so close in games like Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Then, there is the issue of with so many great games a year, how can players stay healthy? The number of games lost this year due to top players injured are countless, while teams in other conferences manage to stay healthy due to only playing two to three are games a year in much easier conferences. SEC games are quickly becoming the reality T.V. of the college football league, the train wreck that you just can't look away from.
How can a team go undefeated now? Too much talent comes the southern region of the United States. Of the top 5 states in the U.S. for college recruitment (Florida, California, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana) 4 of the 5 are located in the South. This just makes it too easy for so many teams with strong state pride to recuit in state year after year.
And don't even get me started with the bias northern writers and the way they are always eagerly awaiting to boost their old alumni to the top of the rankings like Ohio State and Michigan, teams that only play two to three hard games a year. But it's not only teams from the Big 10 now, teams from the PAC 10 and ACC are somehow creeping into the top 10 every year without playing hardly any ranked teams, just because they are undefeated! Mark my words! Somehow, Ohio State will creep into the National Championship this year!

Crosby, Stills & Nash - "Crosby, Stills & Nash"

Originally posted Nov 13, 2007

Released in May of 1969, "Crosby, Stills & Nash" not only left behind the old innocent sounds of the 60s, it would be the corner-stone album for the future singer-songwriter genre and would be the new blueprint for social-political music scene.

In 1968, Stephen Stills (ex-Buffalo Springfield), David Crosby (ex-Byrds), and Graham Nash (ex- Hollies) in a chance meeting, presented by Cass Elliot, would discover that when combined, the harmonies the trio created would become a sound unrivialed in modern music. Within a few months, of that meeting, the three extremely confident and seasoned artists would create and fine tune a collection of songs that would become their first album "Crosby, Stills & Nash." At first listen, you would never believe that this is a first effort by three artists who had only been playing together a few months, but the months of practice before recording blended the three musicians into a power that gives the album one voice. The listener gets a feeling of joy from the album, because one can sense the joy that went into the recordings. Songs like "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," the 7 minute avalanche of harmony and acoustic complexity, the jazz influenced "Guinnevere" and the spiraling guitar (recorded backwards) on "Pre-Road Downs," gave CSN a huge array of diversity in their songs. There are also heavy political songs, such as "Long Time Gone" written in the summer of 68 after the political assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy,and the song "Wooden Ships" which tells the story of two soldiers from different sides who choose to leave behind their failed world in search of a new one. But in the times of the electric guitar performers of Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page, where would a rush of acoustic harmony land in the middle of the climate? The album became a step back to honesty, a delta blues in the old-timey fashion. The songs came to echo the times in which they were written, reflecting the yearning of escape of the political times that seemed to never change. Through CSN's harmonies, they broke a political message in a beautiful way that was acceptable to the masses. They do what they please--singing a short blues phrase between cuts, performing their multi-melodies with a grand sense of their own uniqueness, throwing in clever bits, engaging in musical conversation, combining songs....The whole thing is a product of deep friendship, definite genius, love and loyalty and for a time a glimpse of hope for the future. Download This: The entire album is absolutely great! But if you have to choose one song to decide pick: Suite: Judy Blue Eyes