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Showing posts from 2007

Apples

Christmas party last night at my place. We stayed up late. Had a great time. I've taken two naps today so far. One game that we played (and had played 5 or so times the night before) is called Apples to Apples . I recommend it. It's a great English teacher game in which the two most important parts of it are nouns and adjectives. I won't get into too much detail (as I feel a third nap coming on), but you must all beware of colorful ninjas... and play Apples to Apples .

6:45

It's 6:45am as I start to type this (no doubt, I'll finish much later as I certainly tend to ramble... and proof read). It's Saturday and it's still dark out. For some reason the combination of being awake on a Saturday morning while it's dark out is incomprehensible. I set my alarm last night for 9:00... So, I went to Lena's on Thursday, as usual. I sucked. For some reason my legs were wobbly and I couldn't get myself to stop thinking about it. My voice wasn't quite where it should be either. I played Christmas Time by Bryan Adams and Passenger . Some pictures were taken, but I haven't taken them off of the phones that they were taken with, so... I'll just talk about it and post the pictures later. Besides sucking, the night was pretty melancholy-ish. I don't know why. Maybe it was the stillness of winter. Maybe it was the fact that I decided to wear a Santa hat, which I regretted as I felt very silly. I got heckled on stage. There were mar

Self-Esteem

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I recently purchased a pocket notebook and a very small pen -- which, incidentally, cost about four times as much as a regular pen -- so that I can write lyrics, thoughts, etc, when such things come to me without having to wait until I can get to a computer or non-pocket notebook. I have been carrying it around with me for a while now and have started to use it more routinely. I'm actually (and finally) writing a song. Here follows some other things I wrote about: 12/12 Went to Jitters Cafe open mic. Played "Road to Nowhere" and messed up the lyrics, "Endless," and "Christmas Time" by Bryan Adams. Phil Drum was given a birthday cake complete with candle; age jokes ensued. Found out from a reliable source that Phil spends "all his free time" on myspace and youtube. Rainman played Christmas songs. Lisa K. covered "When the Stars go Blue" by Ryan Adams. 12/13 Drove home during a snow storm. A plow passed over a bridge as I passed under

Knowing is Half the Battle

I haven't taken any interesting pictures lately, so I haven't had anything to post. I have also been quite sick (sinus infection) and had to miss the open mic this past week. I did, however, attend Victoria Bouffard's show at Fulton Books on Friday. She played quite well and did most of my favorites of her originals. She also did the one (cover) about watching cartoons and having a better view of the moon if your house burns down. Can't remember the name of it, or who it is by though. Fulton Books is an interesting place to see shows. The lights are off and the stage is lit up, which is cool, and people listen. But, it is eerily quiet. It must be all of the books on the shelves or something, but there is no depth to the sound. Even the sound coming from the amplified PA is sucked from the room. It's like playing in a vacuum... which -- oddly -- isn't exactly bad... it's just different. I'm sure some musicians/bands sound better in such an environment, wh

Hosted

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I got to host the open mic/mike at Lena's last night. Firstly, it was quite a wonderful open mic. There were a lot of great performers. It was one of those nights where each performer transitions into the next seamlessly, like you are watching one long performance instead of many little ones. Everyone played and sounded wonderfully; it was a great evening of music. The crowd was rather small, but it was a good crowd of mostly musicians. And it was an appreciative crowd that really listened to each performer. It was a great night. What can I say about my hosting? I opened with a joke (how do you catch an elephant? dig a hole. fill it with ashes. put peas around it. when an elephant comes to take a pea, kick him in the ash hole). I snapped gum in the microphone (unintentionally, of course). I stuttered, sputtered, tripped over my tongue, and showcased various other "talents" of along the same lines. I took some pics of performers: Phil Drum. (who also played with Dave Schef

Gravy

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It doesn't really feel like holiday time to me. It should -- being that today is the Friday after Thanksgiving and many people (though, not me. never in a million...) are shopping. I had a wonderful feast last night that consisted of the usual Thanksgiving food things and took pictures of a mini village (you know, those little porcelain houses that have lights in them and are only seen around the holidays). But, I'm holiday cheerless. I'm fairly certain that this is because all of the holiday traditions that were prominent in my family have diminished up to a few years ago when they simply became no more. True -- new traditions have developed... but there is the lingering melancholy associated with the loss of the old ones. And, this year, I can't break it. I'm looking forward to the weekend before Christmas when my brother and his wife come in from New Hampshire, and we have dinner with my dad and his wife at their place 45 minutes from here, and what is left of ou

Leaves

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Yesterday, I came home from work to find this: (if you require a better description: it is a pile of leaves -- at least three feet high with about a five foot diameter -- in front of my drive way... which meant I parked in the street, got a shovel and a metal rake, spent about an hour shoveling/raking/pushing/pulling leaves to the side, and THEN pulled in my driveway.) I have no idea why the leaves were there. They weren't blown there or accidentally moved there by an unsuspecting driver. They were pushed there on purpose. I called the city and they said that there was no leaf pick up going on in my area. So, it wasn't their fault. The police wondered why I wanted to report it. Figures. I'm baffled. And my back hurts. And whoever did it deserves... well, I'll let you pick their fate. ------- After shoveling/raking/pushing/pulling, I rested for a bit, changed and went to Lena's. It was a wonderful night at open mic. I had a nice conversation with Kyle Carey about how

There and Back Again

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I'm home, now, from a weekend road trip to New Hampshire, where my brother lives with his wife and... ... their dog (George, the cute, sweater-wearing, forget-you-are-a-guest-and-bark-at-you-in-the-middle-of-the-night Bichon). We had a good time (we being Stephanie and I). We were taken to a flea market, which -- and I am ridiculous to mention this -- was the first flea market I had ever been to (at least, that I can remember). We were on an search for beanie babies (long story -- though, I will always think chunky monkey and remember to look for word chunks in long words that I don't know... whenever I see a monkey), which we found, and discovered a few interesting things that I took pictures of: The wall of records... (this picture doesn't really do the place justice -- it was really cool) The Chewbacca mask... (which, I overheard, is one of only a few thousand that were made... and comes with the rest of the... erm, Wookiee) And the sketchy door, located in the basement

Free False Teeth

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No joke; this actually happened. I was at a training today (CPR/First aid -- yes, I learned how to give mouth to mouth and developed a close relationship with "Resuscitation Annie") for my job, and a friend that I had met at previous orientations (see much earlier post) was there as well. For lunch we walked down State Street (Schenectady) to the Muddy Cup. On our way, my friend stopped me to look around for false teeth, which she had seen on an earlier excursion. I was beginning to think that there were no false teeth -- why on earth would a random set of false teeth be laying around on a sidewalk anyway? We didn't find them. But, after lunch on our way back... ... and a close up. (Unfortunately, it's a little blurry. Trust me. They are real false teeth. Not a halloween thing) So, if a friend of yours from CPR training tells you some unbelievable story about false teeth being on the sidewalk... believe them. ------ And a random picture of myself being cold and wearin

Newness

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I, finally, updated the myspace music player. The same four songs had been on it for over a year, and two of those four had been up since much longer... Crayons , for instance, was the first song I ever uploaded. Well, I deleted them all and put up four new recordings. (well, I shouldn't say "new"... I recorded the tracks back in early summer and just mixed them yesterday and a couple days ago). They recordings are okay. Still not stellar. I did them at home and in order for recordings to be great they need to be done in a studio... by someone who knows what they are doing. But, they are the best recordings I've done thus far. And they are all that I've got. ------- I attended Lena's open mic Thursday, as usual. I played In Your Dreams and Road to Nowhere . It was small crowd (the way I like it) and my songs sounded good. At one point, I found myself in the "Lena Room" where Phil Drum and Ray Guigere were sharing oooOOOOOoooooold blues songs that t

Trick...

This is my favorite holiday (Halloween), not because of the candy, mind you -- I'm not a "chocoholic" nor do I have a "sweet tooth" -- I just love dressing up. Costumes are awesome, though I'm not going trick or treating. I'm too old, and -- like I mentioned before -- I could really care less about the candy. But, I was preparing candy to hand out to trick or treaters later and I noticed something about the "fun size" candy bars. They're a little smaller than they were last year. Actually, they are more than a little smaller... they are at least 1/3rd smaller. That's a lot, really. That's a trick... not a treat. And, it's really not a "fun" size anymore, if you want my opinion.

This and That

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I cleaned out my camera phone today. I had been up to a lot since my last post and had taken various pictures of this and that along the way. On Sunday, Stephanie and I went hiking in the Adirondacks. The trail was to take us to Stewart Lake... Neither of us had hiked the trail before and so we didn't know what to expect. It was hilly at times, but not too strenuous. At one point I heard a water fall and so we left the trail to investigate. Stephanie fell in trying to cross to the other side. It was a cool little waterfall, though. We, eventually, reached the lake. I don't know what I especting with the it, but it wasn't this. Still, it was a pretty view. ------- Lena's on Thursday. I played updated versions of Breaking Free and Crayons and receieved a couple of nice compliments on them. (Willie the Moak) (Emily Smith) (Julia? something... I think -- whom I've not seen/heard before and was quite good) ---------- Halloween Party on Friday. I went with a sword-weild

Mics of the Open Variety

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Jitters has an open mic on Wednesdays and the most wonderful cafe food ever. I went to the open mic to play and to eat... but mostly to eat. I had a quesadilla, which was quite tasty. I took a picture of Ryan Jenson singing his heart out; he always sings his heart out. I played Jessie by Joshua Kadison, Road to Nowhere , and Passenger On Thursday, I went to Lena's. I worked the door because Stephanie was in NYC for a conference. Gary Moon hosted (as he did at Jitters as well). He played Galileo by the Indigo Girls and did an excellent job of it. I sang along. Phil Drum was awesome and handed out some CDs of home recordings (which I am listening to now and sounds really good). Dave Scheffel had some... erm, fun with Gail Sparlin's piano flashlight... thingy... I took a picture of the list of names and a random cookie, which I later learned belonged to someone and, yet, disappeared before that someone was able to eat it. Bummer. I played Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash and Behold