This Yellow Taxi Cab In Which I Ride

You are probably familiar with the concept of writer's block--a perhaps fictional anomoly that causes those who write to, for whatever reason, fail and stall and generally lose the ability to write well. I have a friend who would argue that there is no such thing as writer's block and that he could write a song about anything at any time if he wanted (personally, I think he's being idealistic in an attempt to stay positive in life rather than negative like me). Anyway, I am in the midst of lifer's block, which works in much the same way as writer's block--except that with lifer's block, it's life in which I have lost the inability to do well and I constantly, and consistantly, fail and/or stall at. This, of course, makes lifer's block about a thousand times worse than writer's block. With writer's block, one may still have the ability to cook well or socialize well, but I seem to have lost such abilities and find myself unable to do anything well

*Disclaimer: What follows may not be considered of interest to anyone other than the severely bored or the possibly insane. You were warned! It's Friday night--the night of the week where you are suppossed to get out and cleanse yourself of the previous five days. I'm at home sitting in front of my computer wrapped up in a blanked and freezing to death. Normally, I hang out with some friends on Fridays and goof off (goofing off typically includes: beating my friends in ping-pong, playing video games, watching comedy central, going to taco bell, etc...); however, this particular Friday finds one of my friends ill. Thus, the Friday night cleansing of the week is postponed. There is nothing to do when you are alone on a Friday night. I have solved five SuDoKu puzzles, practiced a couple of songs, attempted to write a new song, checked my e-mail, checked my myspace, checked my website, and looked for a job. Now, I'm eating crackers and doing google searches using words like: bo

It's the Sunday morning after my Slow Jed's Mudhouse gig. I'm tired. Singing for two hours is tough work! Even so, the gig was great! I had a blast and people tell me I sounded good--two things that matter most in the realm of music making. I also had some good compliments in the form of acknowledgement; people seemed to enjoy what I was doing. I have to say that Slow Jed's is one of the coolest places I have ever been. A lot of people have been praising it, but I remained skeptical as always. As soon as I walked in, though, I was loving it. The walls are very cool colors (the room that has the stage is colored the same red as my kitchen!). There is unique lighting and fantastic art on the walls. It's a very warm atmosphere; it's a place that you can go and hang out and feel like you are home and not at home at the same time. Not sure what that means? I recommend visiting Slow Jed's to find out! I was a little nervous last night--not sure why, though. Maybe

The title is a bit of a play on words. You see, I've been playing (playin') a lot lately, which makes me very busy--or plain busy, which sounds a little like playin' busy... get it? Me neither... Anyway, I have had three gigs in three weeks! That is quite busy for me! I didn't advertise (I think that's the right word) all of the gigs, though. Mainly because two out of the three were benefits. The first of which was a benefit for a local museum. There was food and drinks and an auction. It was a cold night and there was definately a bug problem (we were outside under a tent), but otherwise it was a fun night! The food was great--of course, I had some--and I had some nice conversations with the people whom I met. I also made some good tips, which is great because it definately shows that my performance was appreciated. It is, after all, so easy to walk in to a venue, play, and walk out without feeling like playing even mattered. The next gig I had was at Flavour Cafe

I just realized that I wrote this blog entry back in August, but I never posted it. I don't remember why I didn't post it... and since I'm lacking anything new to blog about, here it is: AUGUST 16th, 2006 Here I sit suffering from itchy watery eyes, sore throat, and sinus pressure... gosh, I sound like I should be in a NyQuil commercial. I love NyQuil--you giant ____________ Q. Actually, my symptoms aren't quite what I mentioned. I itch. My eyes, my sinuses, my throat--it all itches... and like mad too! It seems to get like this every August. Yes, I am taking stuff; it's just not making it all go away, which is what I want. Besides the allergies, I have interesting stuff to blog about here. So, let the interesting stuff begin! I got a new PA system! It's pretty phat--yes, phat. It is phat because the guitar sounds warm with a good amount bass supporting it. It is also phat becuase the vocals are nice. Although, I'm saying these things without actually field

Last night was great! Yesterday, however, started out as a terrible day. I wasn't feeling well for some reason. Maybe I was undernurished or the wicked heat from the two previous days had had an effect on me--either way, in the morning I had written a short list of things that I needed to accomplish; I did none of them. Today, on the other hand, was excellent. It's only two o'clock and I have already accomplished most of yesterday's neglected list. I feel great and am looking forward to completing more tasks before getting together with friends tonight. "What caused this change in attitude?" you might ask. My answer might be as follows: Last night was thursday night. And anyone who knows me knows that thursday night is Caffe Lena night! Whoo-hoo! And what a night it was! I think that last night's open mic was the best open mic I have attended--ever!! And that's saying a lot! Firstly, the crowd was excellent; they were very attentive (once in a while y

It is the hottest day of 2006. What have I done thus far with myself? In the am (when it was just hot; not yet too hot), I awoke. I ate breakfast while checking my email and watching various non-sensical videos on www.utube.com. I showered. I dressed (in light clothing). I dragged seven or so blankets down stairs to my computer room. I set up chairs in the computer room in the shape of a square minus one side. I draped the blankets over the chairs. I set up microphones in the center of the three sided square and plugged in the microphones to a mixer which inturn got plugged into my computer. I started to record. Recording sucks. It sucks worse on the hottest day of the year when one's only wish is to sit in an air conditioned room with an iced latte in one hand and The Lord of the Rings in the other. However, I have already wasted half of the summer and I have no new recordings to show for it. My thoughts are thus: I need to record; I need to have a CD. This need is based on the f

I graduated about a month ago. The event was incredible. The feelings that it elicited cannot be explained--even if I had tried to write about it right after it happened. The path that I had been on for the past two years has finally ended--of course emotions went wild. It was always a difficult path; In all of that time I had never had a chance to really relax or even reflect on what was going on around me. It was like being in the back seat of a taxi cab--one where the driver would take quick left turns without warning and speed down avenues of which you had never known about. And that taxi came to a screaching halt on May 13th. For about a week after graduation I didn't know what to do with myself. Everything that was my life for two years was no more and I was at a complete loss. Long before graduation, Stephanie and I had planned a "graduation vacation." On May 23rd we embarked on this most excellent of adventures--whoa--which entailed a plane, a hotel, a rental car,

I took a road trip this weekend to Watertown, New York--home of the Miss New York State Pageant and Jreck Subs (and, as far as I can tell, nothing else). Watertown was probably a quaint area at one time or another; however, its quiet main street shops are in the midst of a brutal take over by a hideous insurgence of the usual big box retail stores. This is most evident in the difference between the town's main road last year and this year--five new "giants" have been in built in that time. It was quite shocking to say the least. Now that the setting has been... well... set, let's move on the tale. Stephanie and I were driving down the main road when an odd scent wafted into my typically reliable vehicle. My first thought was that someone else's car was in a state of disrepair and that the owner had better be on his or her way to the garage. It was then brought to my attention that smoke was appearing near the hood of my car like little ghosts escaping from the eng

It will be no more than 5 days of my internship and a weekend full of last minute papers and porfolios until I am officially done with school... forever. Yes, it is true; I will be graduating--finally. My actual graduation day is May 13th; however, This next week is my last week of school--I am so excited about it that I can hardly contain myself. Okay, I am contained--but just barely. It has been such a difficult journey; it's hard to accept the fact that it's actually ending. I'm really not sure what to think of it. I do, however, know exactly what my next step is: find a way to pay for it. Ahhhhh, student loans! So, last night was excellent. My thursday night class was cancelled due to a conference that my professor attended. Since there was no class, I went to Lena's. It was the first time that I played on the stage in over a month--almost two! I got picked late and ended up with a fairly late time slot. Normally, this would not be a very big deal, however, I needed

So, I took this muppet personality test. You Are Kermit Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies! The Muppet Personality Test Does anyone care to disagree?

Last night was excellent. I stopped by the Illium Cafe in Troy to see/hear a friend of mine play. He was great; he always is--there is no need for suprises. The suprise this particular evening, though, was that a bunch of other musicians were there watching/listening, as well. I was glad to see the familar faces and catch each other up on our lives a little. After the gig, we walked down around the corner to this swanky--I never thought I'd say swanky--bar where the best local band of like the last four years, as voted by our area's main music publication's readers, was playing. I had never seen them before and was definately interested. They really were great! Excellent, even. Tight, if you will. (tight is one of those hip words that musicians use to describe how well a group is playing together. loose would be the opposite. you definately want to see/hear a tight band rather than a loose one. although, tightness is difficult to achieve. it is the sign of great musicians w

The Moon and River gig went well. I didn't play my best; I didn't play my worst. I just played. Stephanie took some nice pictures, which are now up on the picture page. (if any of my students are reading this, please note the use of "which" in the last sentence). I like the pics. You can see some crazy emotion in my face. I've always envied musicians who have had pics like that. Plus, you've got to like that angle! I can't describe it in words, really--you've got to see it. What I learned most about the Moon and River gig--life is, after all, all about learning--is that in order to succeed at being a performing musician, you have to be great. Being good may gain you a little bit of attention from the crowd, but being great is a necessity if you want people to really listen. I had some listeners; there was definately attention. But, you can't rely on mediocrity if you want super attentive crowds. Especially if you are a small time local dude who pl

Monday February 13th : bought fish put fish in bowl Tuesday February 14th : gave fish as gift bought fish tank put fish in tank Thursday February 16th : fish not looking so good Friday February 17th : fish no longer swims So passes V (fish).

I have been trying to spend a good amount of time writing and playing; however, life has other plans for me. This is essentially okay because some of the "other plans" are of my own design. I am a student as well as a student teacher. Don't get me wrong, I love both of those things! I want nothing less than to be a great teacher; although, my personal time has been dwindled away to nearly nothing. Actually, that is not completely true. I have free time, it's just that I am so wiped from all the school (I teach during the day and then attend classes one night a week) that I can barely do anything other than sleep. Let us not forget the homework. The amount of work that teachers have to do outside of their job is insane. Especially for student teachers and first and second year teachers. We have not done this before so we need to spend more time preparing ... and less time on things that we enjoy, such as hobbies, such as music. What makes this situation most frustratin